India v West Indies – 1st Test – Complete Recap – Part 3
India were in a very good position against West Indies after the third day’s play on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. The visitors scored 252 runs in their second innings, courtesy a brilliant century from veteran batsman, Rahul Dravid. This gave the Men in Blue
a healthy lead overall, as they posted 326 runs, as a target for the Caribbean Kings.
The conditions were not good for the batsmen, as the ball was not coming onto the bat and the pitch had inconsistent bounce. This made life hard for both the teams, but India managed to post respectable totals in both their outings. They ended up with 246
runs in the first innings and collected 252 in the second.
The world champions had a first innings lead of 73 runs, but they didn’t get off to an ideal start in their second outing. Opener, Murali Vijay, failed to impress on his return to Test match cricket and was dismissed for a duck in the second innings.
Abhinav Mukund and Dravid shifted the momentum towards their side with a 56-run stand for the second wicket. The debutant was unable to carry onto his start though and was sent back to the pavilion after adding 25 runs to the total.
VVS Laxman didn’t last long either and got out without troubling the scorers, leaving the visitors in trouble at 57/3. Virat Kohli then walked out in the middle and gave some support to Dravid. The pair collected 43 runs for the fourth wicket, guiding the
team’s total to 100. The youngster failed to last long though and was dismissed after scoring 15.
Suresh Raina, who top scored the first innings with 82 runs, looked impressive, but was dismissed after collecting 27 runs. He was involved in a solid 48-run stand with Dravid.
A few quick wickets fell after that, as the Indian team was left struggling at 183/8. However, their most experienced batsmen didn’t lose focus from the game and continued to hurt the opposition. He completed a magnificent ton in demanding conditions and
was the last man to be dismissed in the innings for 112 runs.
Amit Mishra gave solid support to Dravid, scoring 28 runs in a 56-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Devendra Bishoo continued to impress with his terrific bowling, picking up four wickets in the innings. Darren Sammy also had a good day, as he also dismissed four batsmen.
In reply, West Indies lost three batsmen for 131 runs and were struggling until close of play. They gave away two wickets to Ishant Sharma, who bowled well in the first innings as well.