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| June 28, 2006 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 1, 1427 |
Dravid leads India to third straight draw
BASSETERRE (St Kitts), June 27: Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer and Vangipurappu Laxman scored half-centuries to steer India to a draw in the third Test against West Indies on Monday.
India, needing an unlikely 392 to win, were 298 for four when stumps were drawn on the fifth and final day.
Earlier, the home side declared on 172 for six after eight overs of play in the morning.
The first two Tests in the four-match series were also drawn.
Dravid top-scored with an unbeaten 68, having shared a third-wicket stand of 100 with Laxman (63).
Captain Dravid's innings took him to 8,900 runs in Test cricket, putting him joint sixth with England's Graham Gooch on the list of all-time leading run-scorers.
West Indies squandered an opportunity to separate the openers and put pressure on India in the fourth over of their second innings.
The chance came when Chris Gayle at first slip dropped a straightforward catch after Sehwag, on five, edged a swinging delivery from fast bowler Jerome Taylor.
India went to lunch on 117 without loss but were shaken out of their comfort zone when fast bowler Corey Collymore trapped Sehwag in front for 65 with the first ball of the second session.
Jaffer had scored 54 when he drove at an inswinger from left-arm seamer Pedro Collins and edged low to Gayle at first slip.
India might have slipped to 181 for three in the eighth over before tea but leg slip Dwayne Bravo dropped a difficult chance offered by Laxman, on 39, off the bowling of off spinner Marlon Samuels.
Earlier, Daren Ganga struck an unbeaten 66 for West Indies to add to his 135 from the first innings.
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Brian Lara had no regrets about not enforcing the follow-on after the hosts had built a first-innings lead of 219 at tea on the fourth day, but they batted a second time before setting India a target.
“I've not regretted the decision, if it was a 300-run lead I would have batted again, if it happens in Jamaica (where the fourth Test starts on Friday) I will bat again,” Lara told reporters.
“My team depends on fast bowlers, they run from 25 yards and they need that sort of rest if they have to work really hard in the first innings.”
Lara's surprising decision was influenced by the unavailability of left-arm fast bowler Pedro Collins on the fourth evening because of a bout of cramp that forced him to leave the field towards the end of India's first innings.
India had a reasonable chance of winning when they reached tea needing 192 runs from the 33 overs that were to be bowled in the final session.
The result left the series deadlocked at 0-0 going into the final Test starting on Friday at Kingston.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES (1st innings) 581 (D. Ganga 135, R.R. Sarwan 116, S. Chanderpaul 97 not out, M.N. Samuels 87, C.H. Gayle 83; Harbhajan Singh 5-147)
INDIA (1st Innings) 362 (V.V.S. Laxman 100, Wasim Jaffer 60).
WEST INDIES (2nd Innings) 172-6 declared (D. Ganga 66 not out).
INDIA (2nd Innings):
Wasim Jaffer c Gayle b Collins 54
V. Sehwag lbw b Collymore 65
V. V.S. Laxman c Lara b Collins 63
R. Dravid not out 68
M.S. Dhoni c Gayle b Taylor 20
Yuvraj Singh not out 8
EXTRAS (B-9, LB-8, W-1, NB-2) 20
TOTAL (for four wkts, 85 overs) 298
FALL OF WKTS: 1-109, 2-143, 3-243, 4-273.
BOWLING: Collins 18-1-66-2 (1nb, 1w); Taylor 11-1-40-1 (1nb); Collymore 15-3-40-1; Samuels 20-3-68-0; Bravo 7-1-36-0; Gayle 14-2-31-0.
UMPIRES: R.E. Koertzen and B.G. Jerling (both South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: C.E. Mack (West Indies).
MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Daren Ganga.
FOURTH AND FINAL TEST: Kingston, June 30-July 4.—Agencies
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