Scorecard

Rahul Dravid [Images] scored his second half-century to give India the upper hand at close on the second day of the fourth and final Test against the West Indies [Images] at Kingston [Images], Jamaica, on Saturday.

India were 128 for six in the second innings, for an overall lead of 225 runs.

Dravid was unbeaten on a solid 62 with Anil Kumble [Images] on 2, as the other Indian batsmen repeated their failures of the first innings.

The two batsmen had rescued India in the first innings too, scoring 81 and 45 respectively.

Earlier, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh [Images] bowled India to a 97-run lead on first innings after the West Indies, replying to India's total of 200 all out on Friday, were skittled out for 103.

Harbhajan polished off the lower-order to end up with figures of 5 for 13 in 4.3 overs.

Morning session

I need a good statistician, who goes beyond numbers and clips stories as well, to tell me this - how many times in recent history has a captain lost the toss, bowled the opposition out for just 200 in the first innings, and then complained about the pitch; that too, a seaming, bouncing pitch of the kind he had been asking for all series?

Strange.

It didn't take long, though, to see why - the home team had bowled India out cheap, but for all the celebration, clearly wasn't fancying a bat on the same deck.

Things began to happen as early as the fourth ball of the innings. Sreesanth [Images] angled one across the left-hander, hit the line just around off and Chris Gayle, frozen in a defensive position down the wrong line, watched as the ball slid past the edge and took out off and middle (0/1; 0/4).

Brian Lara [Images] walked into the breach left by the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan [Images] and, to the second ball he faced, survived a good LBW shout as Sreesanth again bent one back in, again to a left hander, again on a line just outside off seaming in to off and middle.

At the other end Munaf Patel [Images], though still not hitting his straps, managed to crack Darren Ganga a nasty one on his glove. The first runs of the innings, a four, came in fortuitous fashion in the fourth over of the innings. Munaf beat Ganga with one that lifted and seamed away around off, the ball found the edge and Wasim Jaffar, at third slip, reacted way too late - the clear chance flew past him and to the third man boundary.

Lara opened his account with a scorching pull off Sreesanth in the 5th over, after having played out 11 balls. That in fact was to be the story of his knock - when opportunity afforded, the West Indies captain played a series of dazzling drives off either foot, and spent much of the time in between struggling to put bat to ball.

Kumble was brought on as early as the 10th over, and Lara greeted him with two outstanding on drives that took him to 25 - 24 of those runs coming in boundaries.

Sreesanth switched ends in the next over, taking over from the off color Munaf and, after starting with a delivery that jagged back to strike Lara on the pads, ended the over with a searing lifter on off. A lot of shoulder went into that ball, that kicked off length and forced Lara to fend at it, much in the fashion of Munaf Patel late last evening against a similar delivery off similar length from Taylor; the ball lobbed nicely to third slip (42/2; 26/40).

Four overs later, Sreesanth made one seam away from the right handed Marlon Samuels, promoted up the over for his easy strokeplay in the previous Test. The batsman drove at it, found the edge, and Jaffar at third slip this time got both hands to the sort of catch fielders in that position routinely hold, and grassed it (1/12; 46/2).

The let off didn't prove costly - Kumble who, in an earlier over, had produced one that kicked from full length very close to off, drew Samuels forward in the 18th over with a floated delivery on length that turned sharply past the bat for Dhoni, staying low, to pull off a smart stumping (53/3; 2/20).

Chanderpaul and Ganga settled down to dig the West Indies out of the hole; the latter, in particular, batted with fluency and good judgment after his early let off, playing with the sort of patience this track requires, and jumping on every opportunity afforded by lapses in line and length to move things along.

Jaffar, who has looked somewhat tired, jaded throughout the day, took out Chanderpaul just before lunch. In the 23rd over of the innings, he first forced a miscued drive from the batsman with a delivery pitched further up, that sliced off the edge and flew high and wide of third slip. And two deliveries later, he again produced a ball down the channel that Chanderpaul drove at with a full flourish; the ball moved just enough to beat the shot and find the edge through to Dhoni (72/4; 10/20).

Ganga relieved some of the pressure, cracking Kumble for successive fours in the next over with a whip through midwicket off his pads, followed by a scorching on drive.

Harbhajan Singh came on for what was the scheduled last over before lunch - and struck with his second ball. The delivery pitched outside off and spun back in sharply; Ganga, playing for the break, went right back onto his stumps and pulled his bat away from the line, took it on the pad in front of the stumps, and Rudi Koertzen [Images] had no problem giving the decision, to a ball hitting middle and leg. The batsman clearly didn't expect that much turn. (80/5; 40/63).

There are interesting signs here, in the turn Kumble - and Harbhajan -- are getting. Allied to bounce, it makes the line around off that much more difficult to play.

The real point though is the turn, off a pitch that is yet to show the faintest sign of cracking. The day one pitch had a lot of moisture underneath; as the sun continues its drying process, the wicket should get harder, the ball should come on more, and if the turn keeps up, Lara's prediction that batting last here could be a nightmare might well prove spot on.

At lunch, India's score of 200 is already looking mountainous - and this Test has turned on its axis.

Post-Lunch session