From Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
West Indies pacer Mervyn Dillon (right) celebrates after trapping India's opener Shiv Sundar Das (second left) leg before wicket for no score. Ramnaresh Sarwan run tos congratulate Dillon.
PORT OF SPAIN:
QUEEN'S PARK Oval has been the stage for many memorable contests, and based on the action so far, the second Test of the Cable & Wireless Series between the West Indies and India seems destined to be numbered among them.
Proudly referred to by Trinidadians as simply "The Oval", it has also been the scene of many brilliant come-from-behind victories by the West Indies, and although the odds still favour India, when the dust settles this Test match may also be numbered among them.
After falling behind on the first day when India finished on 262 for four, and again on the second day when they were sliding on 197 for six and trailing by 142, the West Indies stepped up the pace yesterday and although they failed to go the distance and slackened at the end, they were in with a chance.
At stumps, the scoreboard read India 339 and 165 for four, the West Indies 245, and with the lead 259, with captain Sourav Ganguly on 48 and VS Laxman on 60 and capable of stretching it, with the West Indies batting last on a pitch on which a few deliveries are already keeping low, it is, however, an outside chance - a slim one at that.
Outside chance or not, it is still a chance, and it is possible.
It is possible not only because India scored 406 for four to beat the West Indies at Queen's Park Oval in 1976, not only because four teams in the last five Tests at Queen's Park Oval won after trailing on first innings, but also because Ganguly and Laxman represent India's last specialist batsmen, because the likes of Brian Lara, Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are in the West Indies line-up, and because Lara, Hooper, Chanderpaul and company will not have to deal with right-arm legspinner Anil Kumble on a wearing pitch.
If the West Indies pull it off, if they recover, win the match and take a one-nil lead in the series, they will have to thank Adam Sanford and Cameron Cuffy. In fact, if they do win it they should hoist the two pacers to their shoulders and parade them around the ground.
In order to have a good chance of winning the match, the West Indies bowlers will have to wrap up India's second innings early today; and in order to win it, two or three or four of their batsmen will have to deliver.
But for Sanford and Cuffy, however, the chance of victory would now be no better than that of a snowball in hell.
After fighting for 116 minutes and adding 48 runs in 23.5 overs to their overnight score before losing their last four wickets - including that of captain Carl Hooper who scored 50 before driving a catch to Sourav Ganguly at extra-cover off left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, the West Indies, trailing by 94 runs, struck early when pacer Mervyn Dillon trapped Shiv Sunder Das leg before wicket for zero at six for one.
With Rahul Dravid driving beautifully on both sides of the wicket, however, India rallied nicely and appeared set to leave the West Indies without hope when Sanford, and then Cuffy, and then Sanford again rocked them with three crunching blows to send the crowd wild.
In a match that has so far swung from side to side through flashes of brilliance by the bowlers, India, who cut down the West Indies from 179 for three to 180 for six in the space of nine deliveries late on the previous afternoon, lost three wickets for two runs in 11 deliveries to drop from a comfortable 54 for one to a shaky 56 for four before Ganguly and Laxman, in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 110, rescued them and left the home team to spend the night praying for a deadly early morning assault.
Bowling with the members pavilion behind him, Sanford removed Sanjay Bangar when the makeshift opener drove powerfully and edged into the safe hands of Hooper at second slip, and in the following over, with the score still on 54, Cuffy sent Dravid packing - well caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Junior Murray when the batsman, leaning forward, attempted to play to leg and the cutting, bouncing ball brushed his glove.
Two runs later, Sachin Tendulkar, India's master batsman who scored 117 in the first innings, went back to Sanford, missed the ball, and umpire Daryl Harper of Australia lifted the finger in response to the deafening appeal for leg before wicket by all 11 players and the thousands of spectators in the stands.
At that stage, the lead was 156, India were in a daze, their last specialist batsmen were together, the West Indies were in with a lovely chance, their pacers were firing away, and one more wicket would probably have left India fully exposed and the West Indies in a winning position.
Laxman and Ganguly weathered the storm, however, and then dominated the in consistent West Indies bowlers with some splendid strokes.
SCOREBOARD
India First innings 339
India second innings
S.S. Das lbw b Dillon 0
S.B. Bangar c Hooper b Sanford 16
R. Dravid c Murray b Cuffy 36
S.R. Tendulkar lbw b Sanford 0
S.C. Ganguly not out 48
V.V.S. Laxman not out 60
Extras (1b, 2lb, 2nb) 5
TOTAL: 4 wkts , 68 overs 165
Wickets fell at: 1-6, 2-54, 3-54, 4-56.
Bowling: Dillon 15-4-34-1, Cuffy 14-3-44-1, M. Black 14-3-36-0, A Sanford 13-4-35-2, Hooper 11-4-12-0, R R Sarwan 1-0-1-0.
West Indies first innings
(Overnight 197 for six)
C. Hooper c Ganguly b Khan 50
M. Dillon lbw b Nehra 9
M. Black run out 6
A. Sanford c Tendulkar b H Singh 12
C. Cuffy not out 1
Extras (5b, 8lb, 3w, 7nb) 23
TOTAL: all out , 77.5 overs 245
Wickets fell at: 1-50, 2-80, 3-136, 4-179, 5-180, 6-180, 7-201, 8-217, 9-232, 10-245.
Bowling: J. Srinath 22-4-71-3, A. Nehra 20-4-52-2, Z. Khan 14-2-47-2, hHarbhajan Singh 19.5-3-51-2, S.B. Bangar 2-0-11-0.
