KINGSTON (Jamaica), May 20: Pace bowler Mervyn Dillon grabbed his second career five-wicket haul to put India under pressure to avoid the follow-on on the third day of the deciding fifth Test against West Indies Monday.

The Trinidad bowler removed Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly (36) early and then dismissed wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra (3) and Harbhajan Singh (4) in quick succession to send India into lunch on 207 for nine in reply to West Indies’ first innings 422.

Vangipurappu Laxman was on 62, the fifth time this series he has passed 50, with India still needing 16 to ensure West Indies bat again.

India resumed on 141 for four but Ganguly fell after adding 14 to his overnight 22 when he edged a ball that swung late to wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs. The left-hander, who struck seven fours, had compiled 82 for the fifth wicket with Laxman.

Ratra, who scored his maiden Test century in the drawn fourth Test at Antigua, was caught for three fending a short ball straight to Wavell Hinds at forward short-leg.

Harbhajan fell in a similar manner soon after to give Dillon his fifth wicket as Hinds dived to his right and picked up a one-handed catch inches from the ground.

The figures of five for 68 so far were Dillon’s best bowling performance beating his five for 111 in Pakistan in 1997.

Zaheer Khan got a chance on four, when he skied left-arm paceman Pedro Collins just out of reach of Adam Sanford at mid-on, but finally fell for six mis-timing an attempted pull off Cameron Cuffy to Brian Lara at cover.

Collins then had Srinath (2) edging to Chris Gayle at second slip as five wickets tumbled for 29.

On Sunday, Sachin Tendulkar fell for 41. The 29-year-old, who had scores of 0, 0, 8 and 0 in his last four innings, looked to be bouncing back as he dispatched the West Indian pace quartet to all corners of Sabina Park.

But he was dismissed by Sanford when he got an inside edge to a slower delivery, dragging it on to his stumps as India slumped to 84 for three.

Cuffy struck soon after, having opener Shiv Sundar Das adjudged lbw for 33 by umpire Russell Tiffin to peg India further back to 86 for four. Television replays suggested Das might have been unlucky as the ball looked to be drifting down leg-side.

Earlier, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh earlier took five wickets for 138 to restrict West Indies after Jacobs and Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck breezy half-centuries.

It was the 21-year-old Harbhajan’s eighth five-wicket haul and the first overseas in his 25th Test. The bowler from the northern state of Punjab reached 100 Test wickets when he took his first wicket of the innings.

Chanderpaul reached 503 runs for the series with his 58, which came off 148 balls and included seven boundaries.

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES (1st Innings):

C.H. Gayle c Wasim b Zaheer 68

W.W. Hinds c Wasim b Harbhajan 113

R.R. Sarwan c Das b Harbhajan 65

B.C. Lara c Ratra b Nehra 9

C.L. Hooper c Dravid b Srinath 17

S. Chanderpaul c Ratra b Srinath 58

R.D. Jacobs b Harbhajan 59

M. Dillon lbw b Harbhajan 0

P.T. Collins c Laxman b Nehra 12

A. Sanford c and b Harbhajan 1

C.E. Cuffy not out 0

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-6, W-5, NB-4) 20

TOTAL (all out, 132 overs) 422

FALL OF WKTS: 1-111, 2-246, 3-264, 4-264, 5-292, 6-401, 7-409, 8-411, 9-422.

BOWLING: Srinath 32-9-111-2 (4nb, 5w); Nehra 30-14-72-2; Zaheer Khan 24-4-78-1; Ganguly 8-4-12-0; Harbhajan Singh 38-3-138-5.

INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 141-4):

S.S. Das lbw b Cuffy 33

Wasim Jaffer c Jacobs b Dillon 0

R.S. Dravid lbw b Dillon 5

S.R. Tendulkar b Sanford 41

S.C. Ganguly c Jacobs b Dillon 36

V.V.S. Laxman not out 62

A. Ratra c Hinds b Dillon 3

Harbhajan Singh c Hinds b Dillon 4

Zaheer Khan c Lara b Cuffy 6

J. Srinath c Gayle b Collins 2

A. Nehra not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-6, NB-9) 15

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 71 overs) 207

FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-15, 3-84, 4-86, 5-168, 6-178, 7-184, 8-194, 9-197.

BOWLING (to-date): Dillon 22-4-68-5; Cuffy 22-5-49-2 (4nb); Collins 19-2-54-1 (5nb); Sanford 7-1-25-1; Hooper 1-0-5-0.—Reuters