India's Anil Kumble (right) celebrates with Virendar Sehwag after taking the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies during their first day's play of the second Test in Madras yesterday. - ReutersCHENNAI, India, CMC:
LEGSPINNER ANIL Kumble celebrated a five-wicket birthday and put India firmly in control against the West Indies on the opening day of the second Test at the Chidambaram Stadium yesterday.
Kumble grabbed a superb five for 30 off 23.3 overs with 10 maidens and with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3-56) wrenched out the West Indies for 167, before India moved to 31 without loss at stumps in reply.
The Indians, already 1-0 ahead in the series after their innings and 112-run victory in Mumbai, are only 136 runs behind with all their wickets in tact and taking aim at a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
In the eight overs before the close, Virender Sehwag reached 24 not out and Sanjay Bangar six for the home side and appeared to be cruising, before a brief hostile spell for debutant pacer Jermaine Lawson.
The 20-year-old Jamaican bowled with good pace and unsettled Sehwag with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries in his second over.
Earlier, West Indies captain Carl Hooper predictably opted against a hot (34 degrees Celsius) opening day in the field after winning the toss and gave his openers a chance to revel in the batting friendly conditions.
Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds endured 10 maidens in the first 13 overs while posting a patient 40 for the first wicket in 100 minutes, before Gayle, who had cracked three boundaries off pacer Sanjay Bangar's fourth over, was dislodged by Singh for 23.
The tall Jamaican left-hander, hitting across the line, lobbed an easy catch off the leading edge to Sachin Tendulkar at point.
From a lunch-time position of 45 for one, the West Indies dipped quickly to 62 for three after losing Hinds (18) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (19).
Kumble claimed a questionable leg before wicket decision against Hinds, who did not play a shot as the ball appeared to be drifting marginally outside the off-stump, and veteran pacer Javagal Srinath bowled Sarwan off the inside edge with a delivery that cut back into the right-hander.
Hooper joined Shivnarine Chanderpaul for a 55-run fourth-wicket stand that ended when the West Indies captain, undone by a slower ball from left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, lofted a catch to cover where his opposite number Sourav Ganguly grasped the catch tumbling to his left.
Hooper spanked a breezy 38-ball 35 with six boundaries, including a trademark lofted straight drive dancing down the pitch to Singh, and a crisp square cut off Sehwag in the following over.
Kumble struck again 18 runs later when Chanderpaul (27) edged his top-spinner to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel as the West Indies dipped to 135 for five, and the veteran spinner, celebrating his 32nd birthday, quickly reduced the touring team further to 142 for six when he trapped Ryan Hinds lbw for 16, as the young left-hander tried - on the back-foot - to work the ball through the on-side.
Gareth Breese (five) briefly countered the spin attack with a smart front-foot approach, but after surviving a bat/pad catch against Singh that was not given, and a strong lbw appeal facing Kumble, he eventually popped a bat/pad catch to Sehwag at forward short leg.
The West Indies added just six runs for their last four wickets as the spin pair sent back Mervyn Dillon (four), Ridley Jacobs (nine) and Lawson (0).
Dillon was bowled by Kumble's faster delivery at 166 for eight and without addition to the score, Sehwag, at forward short leg, caught Jacobs off Singh, and Lawson was caught by Ganguly at short mid-wicket as he pushed at a quicker ball from Kumble, who snared his 20th five-wicket haul.
India's side was unchanged from the first Test, but the West Indies made two changes, naming Lawson and Breese for debut appearances.
Lawson replaced Cameron Cuffy, and the 26-year-old Breese, who captained the West Indies Under-19s on a successful 1995 tour of Pakistan, got in ahead of Mahendra Nagamootoo.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies first innings
C. Gayle c Tendulkar b Singh 23
W. Hinds lbw Kumble 18
R. Sarwan b Srinath 19
S. Chanderpaul c Patel b Kumble 27
C. Hooper c Ganguly b Khan 35
R. Hinds lbw Kumble 16
R. Jacobs c Sehwag b Singh 9
G. Breese c Sehwag b Singh 5
M. Dillon b Kumble 4
P. Collins not out 1
J. Lawson c Ganguly b Kumble 0
Extras (b8, lb1, nb1) 10
TOTAL (all out) 167
Fall: 1-40, 2-46, 3-62, 4-117, 5-135, 6-142, 7-161, 8-166, 9-166.
Bowling: Srinath 10-5-14-1; Khan 10-3-21-1 (1nb); Bangar 6-3-29-0; Harbhajan Singh 29-13-56-3; Kumble 23.3-10-30-5; Sehwag 1-0-8-0.
India first innings
S. Bangar not out 6
V. Sehwag not out 24
Extras (w1) 1
TOTAL (without loss) 31
Bowling: Dillon 4-2-6-0; Collins 2-0-16-0; Lawson 2-0-9-0 (1w).
