Test in balance after gripping first day

West Indies survived a daylight robbery by Harbahajan Singh and Suresh Raina to end the first day of the series in slight ascendance, if at all. A damp pitch with uneven bounce, early wickets, a counterattack, a collapse, a spectacular catch, watchful anxious end, the first day had it all.

The tone was set when India took the gamble of batting first on a moist pitch to allow their two spinners best use of a surface likely to break. Ravi Rampaul removed the openers in an unbroken eight-over spell in the heat and humidity of Kingston, getting at least one early wicket for a fourth time in his last five innings. Rahul Dravid looked as solid during his 40 as he had during his two match-winning fifties five years ago at the same venue. Devendra Bishoo, playing his third Test, then intervened to remove VVS Laxman, Dravid and MS Dhoni - close to 23,000 runs between them - in the space of 20 deliveries.

The way Harbhajan and Raina ran away with the initiative in a 146-run stand from 85 for 6, only bandanas and eye patches were missing. Even they couldn't see Fidel Edwards, though, who came back with a spell of seriously quick bowling to help West Indies take the last four wickets for 15 runs. A spell of attrition followed, but it was just as tense, and Ishant Sharma came away with Lendl Simmons' wicket.

In between there were unremarkable maiden Test innings for Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli. The first to fall in the morning, which now seems days ago, was M Vijay, who might as well have been wearing his IPL kit when he slapped a full and wide delivery straight to point. Abhinav, his state-mate and prolific run-getter in domestic cricket, came close to edging thrice before he played one on for 11.

Dravid and Laxman, batting together for the first time since the Boxing Day Test in Durban last year, handled the misbehaving pitch - length balls reared towards the bat handle, short ones hardly reached the keeper, and the spinners extracted appreciable turn - well during their 34-run stand. Bishoo then came on with immediate impact. He began with a perfect legbreak, just short of driving length, on off, and produced the outside edge from Laxman 17 minutes before lunch. After the interval Dravid hit Bishoo for two boundaries before the bowler got his own back with an edge off a full legbreak. Dhoni played a premeditated forward-defensive, and the extra bounce again took the shoulder of the bat. Not only was the bowling good until then, the captaincy too had been positive.

Harbhajan, though, played havoc with West Indies' minds. After watching Raina avoid an over full of hostile bouncers from Edwards, Harbhajan tore into Bishoo. What made it even better, and perhaps rattled West Indies more, was that it all featured little slogging. He hit his fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries for fours: over the bowler's head, a late-cut, and over midwicket. In the next over he cut Edwards for another four.

Raina, perhaps relieved at making it to the other end, pulled out two beautiful extra-cover drives off Bishoo's next over. Darren Sammy called back Rampaul, who tried to bowl fast and into Harbhajan's ribs. Harbhajan got inside the line twice and glanced him fine for fours before smacking another through extra cover. A clueless Bishoo served a full toss and a long hop in the next over, both of which Raina hit for fours. With barely a risk taken, the partnership now read 56 in 6.2 overs. Bishoo's figures had gone from 3.2-2-11-3 to 7-2-44-3. Harbhajan was 36 off 22, Raina 25 off 28.

It was sensational stuff, and West Indies were blown away. Rampaul and Sammy brought some sanity back to proceedings, but by then Harbhajan and Raina had their eyes set on big innings. While Harbhajan still kept hitting the boundaries, Raina dropped anchor, and followed Harbhajan to a half-century with two lovely push-driven straight fours off Sammy.

	... But Fidel Edwards brought West Indies right back with fiery pace © Associated Press Enlarge

Lest it be thought that the pitch had become a featherbed, Rampaul produced two nasty ones to beat Raina even with the partnership about 70 runs old. Again the ball kicked from a length, and beat the outside edge. The batsmen, though, chose the last over before tea, bowled by Bishoo, to make a statement, slogging the hell out of him for 17 runs. That made it 150 runs for the second session, but Bishoo hadn't been entirely negated.

With Edwards breathing fire after tea, Bishoo ran in from deep backwards square, and to his left, and then flew further to his left to claim a top-edged hook from Harbhajan. There was more where that sharp bouncer came from. Edwards was searing quick. He operated at two lengths, either full and swinging in or aimed at the throat. Praveen Kumar fell to the full one, Amit Mishra to the bouncer. Raina, stranded at the other end, could have chosen to either trust the doughty Ishant Sharma or go for the big ones. He went for the latter, and found Bishoo again at deep backward square leg to fall for a second score in the 80s in his nine-Test career.

In reply West Indies were austere, India accurate. For one hour they went without a boundary, Praveen Kumar and Ishant were a bit mindful of not conceding too many runs too. There was an interrogation on, but it didn't quite reach a level where it could break the likes of Colonel Nathan R Jessep down. The truth, it seemed, lay in balls turning square and bouncing up and down. Who can, and who cannot, handle it?

Cric Updates

India in West Indies Test Series, 2011

MS Dhoni captain Age: 29 years 324 days Playing role: Wicketkeeper batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm medium	VVS Laxman vice-captain Age: 36 years 207 days Playing role: Top-order batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak
Subramaniam Badrinath Age: 30 years 270 days Playing role: Middle-order batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak	Rahul Dravid Age: 38 years 136 days Playing role: Top-order batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak
Harbhajan Singh Age: 30 years 328 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak	Zaheer Khan Age: 32 years 232 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Left-arm fast-medium
Virat Kohli Age: 22 years 203 days Playing role: Middle-order batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm medium	Amit Mishra Age: 28 years 184 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Legbreak
Abhinav Mukund Age: 21 years 141 days Playing role: Top-order batsman Batting: Left-hand bat Bowling: Legbreak googly	Pragyan Ojha Age: 24 years 264 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Left-hand bat Bowling: Slow left-arm orthodox
Munaf Patel Age: 27 years 319 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm medium-fast	Parthiv Patel wicketkeeper Age: 26 years 79 days Playing role: Wicketkeeper batsman Batting: Left-hand bat
Suresh Raina Age: 24 years 181 days Playing role: Batsman Batting: Left-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak	Ishant Sharma Age: 22 years 267 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium
Sreesanth Age: 28 years 110 days Playing role: Bowler Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm fast-medium	Murali Vijay Age: 27 years 56 days Playing role: Opening batsman Batting: Right-hand bat Bowling: Right-arm offbreak

India win tour opener despite early wobble

During a five-over spell of poor discipline, West Indies lost the tour opener, the only Twenty20 international in Port of Spain. Led by Darren Sammy's four-wicket haul, the hosts bossed India for 15 overs on a spinners' paradise, but then they dropped a catch, took a wicket off a no-ball, bowled a lot of length, and the 72 runs they conceded in the last five overs proved to be the deciding factor. With two specialists spinners handcuffing the chase, the West Indies batsmen never really threatened India's total, although they lost only two wickets in the first 15.3 overs.

West Indies had been much more clinical for the majority of the first half of the game. Two reprieved men, though, - Rohit Sharma, dropped on 8, and S Badrinath, caught off a no-ball on 25 and not given stumped on 36 - played crucial parts in those five overs that went for 72. India's first 72 had taken more than 12 overs on a Queen's Park Oval pitch that had been under covers for most of the week because of rain. It misbehaved profusely: a few deliveries took the top surface with them, and the spinners managed disconcerting turn even without giving the ball much air. To make it worse for India, it drizzled for about the first 12 overs of the innings, but not hard enough to send the players off. There were two massive boundary-less periods: 19 balls at the start and 32 in the middle.

The way the ball turned justified India's call to play two specialist spinners, in Harbhajan Singh and R Aswhin, but West Indies inflicted damage even before spin was introduced. Their captain Sammy exploited the conditions with slower offcutters, slicing a chunk out of India's batting during an unbroken four-over spell, even as Chris Gayle watched from the stands, dressed in flashy party wear and a cap that said "captain".

Sammy's first wicket, though, was with a bouncer that cramped the debutant Shikhar Dhawan, and kissed the side of the bat on its way through to Andre Fletcher. Virat Kohli got a massive leading edge to a slower delivery, Parthiv Patel lobbed another offcutter to point, and Suresh Raina heaved to mid-on. Following that, Nurse and Bishoo stifled India, but the turning points came in the 14th and 16th overs.

First Nurse passed a maiden international wicket by failing to hold onto a simple return catch from Rohit. Then Rampaul seemed to have got rid of Badrinath, but the replays showed his front foot had landed on the line. The resultant free hit went for four, which should actually have been six because Nurse caught the ball on the full and dived on the boundary rope, and that opened the floodgates.

Rohit hit Rampaul for a six down the ground, and Badrinath hit two fours off Bishoo's next over. In between those boundaries, Badrinath was stumped, but the umpire Peter Nero refused to even refer it to the third umpire. The 18th over, bowled by Christopher Barnwell, was a disaster for West Indies even though he managed Rohit's wicket. He began with five wides and was hit for two sixes, one each by Rohit and Yusuf Pathan, in a 20-run over. Bishoo did some damage control in the 19th, but Rampaul came back to bowl length in the 20th, and was smacked for a six and a four by Harbhajan Singh.

Expectedly India wasted little time in unleashing spin after Praveen Kumar opened the defence with a maiden over. Ashwin and Harbhajan proved to be too good at the start, and Ashwin - albeit fortuitously - removed Lendl Simmons early. The man to blame was Nero again, who ruled Simmons caught behind off the thigh, and also off the wicketkeeper's helmet.

What followed involved no luck. Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo managed to not lose their wickets but struggled to stay in touch with the asking-rate. As the ball turned and bounced, surely they would have wondered why their home pitches should test their weakness, and not the opposition's. That didn't explain lack of urgency in running between the wickets. No Indian fielder felt under pressure to charge at the ball as West Indies were not looking to convert ones into twos.

The asking-rate touched 17 for the last five overs, and the first big risks taken by the pair resulted in wickets to Harbhajan. Barnwell displayed his big-hitting capabilities in a 16-ball 34, but he was left with too much to do to prevent West Indies' first T20 defeat to India