Lara leads Windies charge

Prem Panicker

For once, the scriptwriters got it right, with play proceeding for the most part along predictable patterns.

India resumed this morning on 308/7 with Mongia batting 74 and Joshi batting 23, and it was pretty obvious from the first over that skipper Tendulkar had not given his batsmen any instructions to wage a grim defensive battle out there.

Both stroked easily from the first ball of the day, and Mongia (78 off 205 with six fours) in fact fell when Walsh bounced him, and the keeper flashed into the hook only to top edge to Roland Holder at square leg. The Sabina Park crowd stood to the diminutive keeper as he walked back - well deserved acknowledgement of a really gutsy knock.

Abey Kuruvilla came in, did a Courtney Walsh with the bat, putting a foot out and swinging at everything. All Rose had to do to claim his sixth wicket of the match was keep the ball straight on the stumps, and Kuruvilla walked back without opening his account.

And then came frustration, as Prasad hung in there, getting behind the line to everything thrown at him, and the Indian innings actually survived beyond the first hour as he and Joshi took singles well, the latter opening out into some nicely timed, firm strokes and looking increasingly confident. The partnership put on 26 runs with no fuss, indicating that this wicket was still a batsman's Utopia. Joshi (43 off 148 with three fours) finally went inneer-edging an attempted glide to third man onto the stumps, off Bishop, to end a gutsy performance and Prasad, not out on 10 off 32 balls (and that is pretty much the most he has faced in an innings) looked positively aggrieved at being left stranded on a wicket where, for once, even he could play Ambrose and Walsh on the front foot with no problems.

In the event, India all out for 346 in 146.5 overs, giving the West Indies a lead of 81 runs. And it was obvious that the home side would go for the runs, looking to set a big target and try and bowl India out on the last day.

Campbell and Williams did in fact smash 20 off the first two overs, prompting Sachin Tendulkar to spread his field wide, while Prasad and Kuruvilla throttled back and kept line and length. The run rate fell immediately, both bowlers bowling intelligently though it could be argued that keeping an attacking field for a while longer would have led to the possibility of overly aggressive batsmen making the error and being snapped up.

In the event, Windies went in to lunch without loss - and the rain came down. Play resumed 15 minutes late, but another sharp drizzle meant that 55 minutes were lost in toto. The umpires decided to extend play by an hour beyond close, deducting just one over from the day's quota.

Post lunch, meanwhile, both Kuruvilla and Prasad continued their restrictive line to such good effect that Campbell and Williams were throttled right back down. Interestingly, for the entire first hour after lunch, Tendulkar kept the medium pacers going without introducing Kumble into the attack - rather strangely.

In the event, Kumble finally came on, surprised Williams with a couple of deliveries one of which bounced, and the other sat down on him. Result, hesitation in the batsman's mind, Williams shaped to glide down to third man from off stump, playing for the ball leaving him - Kumble hurried it through, pegged back off stump, and Windies were 68/1, Williams gone for 26 off 67 balls with three fours.

That brought Chanderpaul to the wicket and for the life of me, I can't figure why. Obviously, quick runs were what the Windies would be looking for, the natural choice in that situation seemed to be Lara, but Chanderpaul it was, and with Kumble on line and length, and Prasad bowling within himself and on the stumps, the runs pretty much came to a standstill. In fact, over one period of time, Campbell got just one run in 39 balls, while Chanderpaul seemed to be playing more like it was day one of a Test, rather than day four.

Such overly defensive cricket almost always leads to errors, and Campbell (43 off 111 balls with four fours) made his when he tried to break the shackles by rocking back and cutting Kumble from off the stumps. Given the high proportion of flippers Kumble bowls, that is never a safe shot, and the bowler predictably bowled the flipper, and the stumps went predictably out of alignment as Campbell missed the shot. Windies 81/2.

That brought in Brian Lara. And within two overs, the left-hander had demonstrated the difference between a great batsman and an ordinary one. Line didn't matter, length didn't matter as he went after the two spinners, hitting them up and over or through the gaps with an ease that made a mockery of the earlier batting of Campbell, Willams and Chanderpaul.

One shot in particular was a standout, as he took a casual pace down the track and with grace and majestic ease, lifted Kumble's flipper over the bowler's head for six. And in the next over, he went after Joshi to such good effect that the left-arm spinner, who had flighted well and bowled tightly till then, went for three fours, a square drive played with blazing power and authority being the standout shot.

Tendulkar gave young Laxman a bowl - and to his credit, the part time offie actually managed to check Lara for two overs before the batsman hit him for two fours in the third. And with Lara in that mood, Chanderpaul pretty soon realised there was nothing at all in the wicket, and started stroking with more confidence, while the scorers moved into high gear.

Tendulkar gave himself a bowl and intelligently, gripped the ball in his fingers, gave it a tweak and floated it down the wicket to such good effect that he nearly did Lara twice in two balls, one nearly taking the edge as the batsman shaped to glide, the second one skidding through and almost passing below the bat.

Perhaps upset in his rhythm, Lara shaped to cut at a ball from Kumble too close outside off to afford the stroke, and Mongia did the rest to have Windies on 203/3, Lara going for a brilliant 78 off 83 balls with eight fours besides the six.

That was off the last ball of the Kumble over, Tendulkar promptly brought Kuruvilla back on and first up, the slower one foxed Chanderpaul into playing his drive early, for Tendulkar himself to dive and take a great catch to his left at midwicket. Windies 203/4, Chanderpaul 48 off 89 with five fours.

From then on, till the light deteriorated enough for the umpires to halt play with five overs of the quota remaining to be bowled, Carl Hooper (21 off 29 with 2 fours) and Roland Holder (12 off 18) batted on briskly to add a further 38 runs to take Windies to 241 for four at stumps, an overall lead of 322.

Without incident, did I say? Not quite - before getting into double figures, Hooper at the non-striker's end backed up too far as Holder pushed to gully, Sidhu fielded and threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end and the scrambling Hooper was a good six inches out of his ground. Only, for some reason, umpire Mervin Kitchen failed to call for the third umpire despite a request from Tendulkar and the bowler, and ruled the batsman not out.

What is regrettable in such incidents is the sheer waste of it - it is precisely to avoid questions in marginal cases of run outs that the innovation of the third umpire has been introduced, so where lies the point in not calling for his assistance? Strange...

Another point needs making - and this relates to the 15 overs that Venkatesh Prasad bowled on the trot in his only spell. On the one hand, we have been complaining - more to the point, we have reported Sachin Tendulkar's own complaints - that his medium pacers are being overburdened. We have heard experts indicate that Prasad, who has been playing non stop for a year and more now, is dangerously close to breaking down. So where lay the point of that long spell? Joshi was available to be used, Campbell and Williams were not likely (and, in the event, did not) go after him, so why bowl Prasad into the ground rather than save him and use him in shorter bursts? Is India so rich in bowling resources as to permit us to burn out our bowlers at the rate of one per tour?

Anyways, there we have it, Windies 322 to the good, 90 overs to be bowled on the final day tomorrow. So when does Walsh declare? At this score?

What makes the equation interesting is if you take into account the conditions there. The wicket is still playing flat and easy, a batsman's delight save for very occasional lower bounce outside off stump. There is nothing in it for the pace bowlers - ask Mongia, ask Joshi, ask Prasad who all of them, this morning, handled the fresh Walsh and Ambrose with no fuss, getting on the front foot and playing with time to spare.

On this track, what if a side is asked to make 322 in 90 overs? Theoretically, say they play it like a one-dayer, then what? On this track, 161 in 45 overs is a very, very easy ask, right? And that is precisely the rate the batting side will have to go at, assuming a declaration at the overnight total.

This is not to say that the score can be made in a canter - Walsh and Ambrose in particular are not the kind of bowlers you hit about with gay abandon. But in terms of run rate, the possibility certainly exists, and this, in conjunction with the state of the wicket, is what Walsh will have to factor in when deciding when to declare and still leave enough time to make an attempt to bowl the Indians out.

Be very interesting to see precisely what Walsh does on the morrow.