Related Links : India’s Tour of West Indies 2011 : Scorecard of West Indies Vs India, 2nd Test at Bridgetown
The third day of the Barbados Test was also marred by bad weather though the match went slightly forward with India getting a lead of 34 runs with all their second innings wickets in hand. It was a day when Ishant Sharma produced his career best figures of 6 for 55 while also going past 100 Test wickets. For the West Indies, Marlon Samuels batted well for his unbeaten 78 which cut short India’s first innings lead to just the 11 runs.
Around 41 overs of action was possible on the third day which was dominated by rain and bad light conditions. The morning session was off to a delayed start and when play did resume, the overnight pair of Chanderpaul and Samuels continued to defy the Indian bowlers. It was in the 56th over that the first breakthrough finally arrived for India when Shivnarine Chanderpaul dragged a pull shot off a short delivery from Mithun onto his stumps off a bottom edge. Chanderpaul fell for a 117-ball 37 while adding up 77 runs for the 6th wicket with Samuels. West Indies went to lunch at 138 for 6 in 57 overs.
In the 61st over, Harbhajan Singh struck for the first time in the match when he got Carlton Baugh (2) edging an expansive cover drive to slip where an agile Dravid took a sensational catch diving to his left. West Indies were in trouble of conceding a handy lead at 143 for 7 but Skipper Darren Sammy managed to pull off a good partnership with Samuels. Sammy batted out for the next 10 overs or so before he shuffled far too across and missed his shot to get lbw to Ishant. Sammy who scored 15 in an 8th wicket stand of 43 was the 100th Test scalp of Ishant.
Ishant added two more wickets in the space of two balls to dislodge Rampaul and Edwards for ducks. Both batsmen were out fending off rising deliveries from the lanky pace bowler. Samuels remained unbeaten on 78 from 172 balls with 8 fours. Ishant Sharma produced a career best of 6 for 55 in 21.5 overs.
India saw through 5 overs of their second innings without losing a single wicket before rain interrupted play for the third time in the day. Things improved after a long delay and it was back to action at the Kensington Oval but it was only for four balls as bad light made it impossible for the batsmen to handle the fast short pitch bowling. The day’s play was abandoned with India at 23 for 0 in 5.4 overs with Mukund on 8 and Vijay on 3.