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WI begin chase after bizarre declaration
Dravid declared the innings amid confusion on Dhoni's dismissal. Complete Scoreboard
Skipper Rahul Dravid declared the innings amidst confusion on MS Dhoni's dismissal. The wicket-keeper was in a destructive mood as he hit Mohammed for three consecutive sixes, but was caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Daren Ganga when he tried to do a repeat.
The declaration reminded one of the infamous incident involving Sachin Tendulkar during India's tour of Pakistan in 2004 when the maestro was batting on 193.
The play was brought to halt for a short while as there was some disagrremant between West Indies skipper Brian Lara and the umpires.
During this chaos, Dravid declared the innings and summoned Md Kaif and Dhoni back to the dressing room. Dhoni was later given out after a mutual agreement between him and the fielder Ganga.
The West Indies began their chase and were 13/0 at stumps on Day Four with Ganga batting on 10 and Gayle 2 not out.
Earlier, Wasim Jaffer smashed his maiden double century to turn the match on its head and put India in the driver's seat in the first Test at Antigua.
The Mumbai opener brought up his 200 with a single off Dave Mohammad, exactly a ball after the spinner had got rid of Indian captain Rahul Dravid.
He a hit some glorious drives as well as cracking shots down the ground enroute the milestone.
He perished shortly before tea for 212 runs. He played 399 balls and hit 24 boundaries and one six in his magnificent innings.
Jaffer played a pivotal role in the day's proceedings along with the skipper who once again played the second fiddle.
The two forged a record 203-run partnership for the third wicket to provide India the launchpad for setting a challenging target for the West Indies.
Rahul Dravid was rock solid as he hit a grinding half century which included just two hits to the fence. Dravid was caught by Ian Bradshaw in the deep, trying to hit Mohammad out of the park.
Jaffer headed back to the pavilion soon after, bowled by Ian Bradshaw. This brought Yuvraj and Kaif together at the crease, but the southpaw was dismissed soon after for 39 runs.
He was caught brilliantly by a diving Shivnaraine Chanderpaul in the cover region off a Chirs Gayle delivery.
Kaif was then joined by the destructive Dhoni who turned on the heat on the Caribbeans with some belligerent strokeplay at the very outset.
He raced to 69 with the help of four fours and 6 sixes. He was then caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Mohammed by Ganga.
Earlier, resuming on the overnight score of 215 for two, the day began on the perfect note for India. They managed to negotiate the crucial morning session without losing any wicket to put India in a position from where they can call the shots.
The Indian gameplan was quite evident from the word go. Both Wasim Jaffer and skipper Rahul Dravid looked in fine touch and batted aggressively. They scored at a brisk rate to put the pressure back on the hosts.
Things did not go right for the West Indies bowlers as the fielders missed a couple of chances which should have been taken. Dravid was dropped by Gayle when he was on 24.
Day 3
After a poor outing in first innings, Jaffer hit a patient century to anchor the Indian fight back and propel a crucial 85-run lead.
At Stumps on Day Three, India were 215/2 with Jaffer batting on 113 and Dravid 21 not out.
The Mumbai opener's second Test hundred came at the most appropriate time for India and included 11 hits to the fence.
After failing to fire in the first innings, openers Sehwag and Jaffer put in a much better performance in the second innings to give India a solid start with 72-run partnership for the first wicket.
Earlier, West Indies were bowled out for 371 runs in their first innings on the third day after having taken a sizable 130-run lead over India's first innings total of 241 runs.
Resuming on the overnight score of 318 for six, Ramdin and Ian Bradshaw added 13 runs on before Ramdin was caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off a Munaf Patel delivery.
Day 2
After a superb show in the field to restrict India to 241, flashy opener Chris Gayle set off at a scorching pace to built on the advantage that the bowlers had provided them on the opening day.
The hosts finished the day at 318/6 at stumps with a healthy lead of 77 runs propelled by some brilliant batting display. After Gayle's onslaught, Sarwan and Bravo pitched in to guide Windies to a dominating position on Day 2.
Gayle and Sarwan hammered the Indian pacers to all parts of the ground after the early loss of Daren Ganga to bolster the Windies to a commanding position.
Day 1
India made a disappointing start to the Test series as they suffered yet another top order collapse on the opening day of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua on Friday.
After skipper Rahul Dravid elected to bat, Windies pacers bowled an impeccable line to reduce India to 235/9 at stumps on Day One. Bravo (37/4) and Collymore (27/3) were the top bowlers for the hosts who carried on the form of the ODIs into the Test.
Dravid (49), playing his 100th Test, fought a lone battle even as wickets kept tumbling regularly at the other end.
Earlier, India left out Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan while giving the maiden Test cap to Punjab seamer Vikram Rajvir Singh in a three-pronged pace attack.
West Indies saw the return of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who did not play the final two one-dayers because of a hamstring injury.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, M S Dhoni, Anil Kumble, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and VRV Singh.
West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Christopher Gayle, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards and Dave Mohammed.
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Aus) and Asad Rauf (Pak).
