India made its way to a comfortable position on the second day of the first cricket Test against the West Indies in Kingston on Tuesday.
At stumps, the visitors had scored 91 for three, having dominated the day's play.
The ever-reliable Rahul Dravid was unbeaten on a patient 45, and giving him company was debutant Virat Kohli, on 14. The duo put together 34 runs in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand.
India will go into the third day with a psychological advantage, and an overall lead of 164, with seven second innings wickets remaining.
Earlier in the day, the West Indies were bowled out for just 173 in their first innings, thereby giving the visitors a healthy 73 runs lead.
Debutant Praveen Kumar's three-wicket burst gave India the upper hand, reducing the hosts to 119 for five at lunch.
Praveen nipped out three crucial wickets in the morning session to give the visitors the edge. The young medium-pacer accounted for the wickets of Adrian Barath (64), Darren Bravo (18) and later Brendan Nash (1) to peg the West Indies back.
Apart from Praveen (3-24), Ishant Sharma (2-17) was the other wicket-taker for India in the morning session.
Resuming at their overnight score of 34 for one, in reply to India's 246 all out, the West Indies lost overnight batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan (3) straightaway, lbw to Ishant, before Barath and Bravo combined for a 55-run third-wicket stand.
Barath puzzled the Indians bowlers with his all-attack and all-defence methods and, in the process, raised only the second half century of his young career of six Tests. The little Trinidadian showed a tight defence but choose his moments to attack the Indian bowlers when opportunities came his way.
Bravo, on the other hand, played the anchor role, and the duo saw off the bowling pair of Ishant and Harbhajan Singh, who bowled almost the entire stretch of the opening hour.
The West Indies batsmen adopted a cautious approach and scored only 37 runs off 14 overs in the first hour. Barath moved into his 40s by thrusting Praveen off his pads to the mid-wicket fence and then his leg-spinner Amit Mishra for a four and a six down the ground of his first two deliveries of the day.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni then decided to switch Praveen to the other end and it paid handsome dividends. There was no inkling of it when Barath off-drove Praveen to the cover fence, but off the very next delivery, which held its line, the little opener edged a catch to Dhoni behind the stumps.
Barath made 64 from 122 balls and hit nine fours and a six during his stay at the crease. Praveen built on this success with another wicket in his next over when Bravo nicked a straight delivery to Dhoni behind the stumps.
Praveen then bowled a maiden to Brendan Nash but dismissed the left-hander in his next over when he induced a leading edge, which was well-accepted by Suresh Raina at third slip.
Leg-spinner Mishra was the most listless of all Indian bowlers and gave away 28 runs from his five overs before lunch.
Having pegged back the hosts in the first session, the visitors began on a tentative note, with destroyer-in-chief Praveen getting a second warning for running on the pitch in what was the third ball after resumption.
A few overs later, the bowler received his third and final warning, meaning he couldn't carry on bowling in the innings.
Veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul (23) and Carlton Baugh (27) put on 45 runs for the sixth wicket to revive hopes of the home team. However, despair was round the corner as Harbhajan had Baugh caught by Vijay at silly point.
Captain Darren Sammy (1) survived 11 balls before being cleaned up by Ishant, and when Harbhajan had the experienced Chanderpaul caught by Mukund in the next over, the writing was on the wall for the hosts.
Ravi Rampaul (14 not out) and Fidel Edwards (7) hung around for some time, putting on 17 runs for the ninth wicket. However, the re-introduction of Mishra ensured the dismissal of Edwards (caught behind).
Two balls later, Mishra had Devendra Bishoo (4) caught by Raina, ending the West Indies innings at 173.
Tea was taken immediately after the dismissal of the last wicket, with the visitors leading by 73 runs in the first innings.
The Indian second innings began on a disastrous note. Ravi Rampaul struck with his second ball, having Murali Vijay (0) out leg before.
Debutant Abhinav Mukund (25) and the seasoned Dravid, put down by Sammy off Rampaul when on six, put on a valuable 56 runs for the second wicket before Devendra Bishoo induced a thick edge of the former's blade and Carlton Baugh made no mistake behind the stumps.
And when Sammy caught VVS Laxman (0) off his own bowling in the next over, India found itself in trouble again.
However, Dravid and Kohli negotiated the remaining overs carefully to put the visitors in a comfortable position at close of play.
