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| November 1, 2002 | Friday | Sha’aban 25,1423 |
Hinds hits century as West Indies make strong reply
KOLKATA, Oct 31: Wavell Hinds hammered a solid 100 in the third and final Test against India Thursday as the West Indies enjoyed their best batting day of the tour despite Harbhajan Singh’s triple-strike.
The 26-year-old Jamaican opener smashed 16 fours in his third Test century in 27 matches to help the tourists reach 189-3 at stumps on the second day in reply to India’s 358.
Left-handed opener Chris Gayle was batting on 80 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1).
Off-spinner Harbhajan partially retrieved the situation for India when he had Ramnaresh Sarwan (2) stumped and bowled nightwatchman Mervyn Dillon (nought) in the space of three balls to finish with 3-43.
Hinds put on 172 for the opening wicket with fellow-Jamaican Gayle, who struck one six and 14 fours in his eighth Test half-century.
The West Indies, whose best in the previous four Test innings was 229 in the second match at Chennai, produced their best batting performance but only after having lost the three-match series.
The tourists were beaten by an innings and 112 runs in the opening match at Mumbai and by eight wickets in the second at Chennai.
The West Indies, however, managed to salvage some of their batting pride through the left-handed openers in a bold bid to prevent India from making a clean sweep.
Gayle and Hinds both applied themselves remarkably well on a slow turning pitch and picked the right deliveries to punish during their second century partnership of the year, the last being also against India in Jamaica.
Hinds, who cracked 113 in Jamaica in May, completed his second hundred against India with a single to fine-leg off Harbhajan.
The Indian bowlers were under pressure for the first time in the series as Hinds and Gayle faced no difficulty in gathering runs against both pace and spin on an easy-paced wicket.
Skipper Saurav Ganguly yet again relied on his spin duo of Harbhajan and Anil Kumble for a breakthrough, but had to wait for more than four hours for the first wicket.
Harbhajan was the wicket-taker when he had Hinds caught sweeping by Ganguly at square-leg in the last session before claiming two more victims in the third over before the close.
Gayle kept defying the Indian bowling with his resolute batting, hoisting Harbhajan over long-on for a six during his 196-ball knock.
In turned out to be a batsmen’s day at the Eden Gardens as the West Indian bowlers also struggled for the remaining four Indian wickets after the hosts had resumed at 275-6.
Tail-enders Javagal Srinath and Parthiv Patel frustrated the West Indies with a rollicking 73-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Patel slammed a solid 47 and Srinath an entertaining 46 as India were all out 50 minutes before lunch.
The morning session belonged to Srinath and young wicket-keeper Patel, who flayed the rival attack during their run-a-ball partnership.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings):
S.B. Bangar c Hinds b Cuffy 77
V. Sehwag lbw b Dillon 35
R.S. Dravid lbw b Powell 14
S.R. Tendulkar c Gayle b Lawson 36
S.C. Ganguly c Jacobs b Hooper 29
V.V.S. Laxman c Gayle b Dillon 48
P.A. Patel c Chanderpaul b Lawson 47
Harbhajan Singh b Cuffy 6
J. Srinath c Hooper b Dillon 46
A.R. Kumble lbw b Powell 4
A. Nehra not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-7, W-1, NB-8) 16
TOTAL (all out, 101.2 overs) 358
FALL OF WKTS: 1-49, 2-72, 3-116, 4-165, 5-242, 6-271, 7-280, 8-353, 9-358.
BOWLING: Dillon 22-3-82-3; Cuffy 25-4-84-2; Lawson 20-3-76-2; Powell 16.2-4-62-2; Hooper 15-5-36-1; Gayle 2-0-6-0; Sarwan 1-0-5-0.
WEST INDIES (1st Innings):
C.H. Gayle not out 80
W.W. Hinds c Ganguly b Harbhajan 100
R.R. Sarwan st Patel b Harbhajan 2
M. Dillon b Harbhajan 0
S. Chanderpaul not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-5) 6
TOTAL (for three wkts, 71 overs) 189
FALL OF WKTS: 1-172, 2-186, 3-186.
TO BAT: C.L. Hooper, M.N. Samuels, R.D. Jacobs, J.J.C. Lawson, D.B. Powell, C.E. Cuffy.
BOWLING (to-date): Srinath 6-2-26-0; Nehra 13-8-24-0; Harbhajan Singh 24-9-43-3; Kumble 19-1-73-0; Bangar 6-3-14-0; Tendulkar 3-0-8-0.—AFP
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