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Windies Escape Barbados With A Draw

Related Links : India’s Tour of West Indies 2011 : Scorecard of West Indies Vs India, 2nd Test at Bridgetown

Ishant Sharma BarbadosHosts West Indies barely managed to draw the Second Test at Barbados with rain and bad light coming to their rescue on the nick of time. West Indies were 7 down with more than 10 overs left in the match when the Umpires decided that the light wasn’t fit enough for any further action.

Tale of the Morning Session :

Surprisingly play started on time with an early start thanks to bright sunshine. India wanted to get to a lead of 300 before declaring and their plans were spoilt because of wickets going down to the second new ball which was taken straightaway at the start of play. Overnight batsman Virat Kohli (27) was the first to depart edging his drive on the up to second slip off Edwards with India at 232 for 4. VVS Laxman (87 from 188 balls with 8 fours) missed out on a hundred for the second time in the match as he poked at an away going one off Edwards to edge it to Sammy at second slip. MS Dhoni wanted to play big shots as and when he entered the middle and had to pay price for that miscuing a lofted shot off Edwards to mid off.

India declared their innings after 102 overs at 269 for 6 with Raina unbeaten on 12 and Harbhajan on 6*. For the homeside, Fidel Edwards finished with 5 for 76, which was his 9th five-wicket haul.

West Indies chasing a target of 281 in 83 overs lost an early wicket in the form of Lendl Simmons who got out like Kohli, edging a false drive on the up to get caught in the slips. The wicket taker was Ishant Sharma in the 4th over luring the right hander into an ambitious drive on the up. By the lunch break, one more wicket went down with Ramnaresh Sarwan (8) edging his forcing backfoot drive off Praveen Kumar to third slip. At lunch, the hosts were on the backfoot at 51 for 2 in 16 overs.

Tale of the Afternoon Session :

India got a quick wicket after the break with Adrian Barath (27 from 64 balls with 3 fours and a six) edging an Ishant Sharma delivery off the backfoot to third slip in the 18th over. India lost the steam after reducing West Indies to 55 for 3 with the likes of Mithun and Harbhajan failing to create any sort of impression. It was the left handed pair of Bravo and Chanderpaul which defied the bowling comfortably right through the session to take Windies to 108 for 3 in 46 overs with Bravo attacking with his 45* while Chanderpaul keeping his end intact with a slow 12*.

Tale of the Final Session :

It was a shocking lbw decision from Umpire Ian Gould in the fifth ball after the Tea Break to gift a struggling Harbhajan with the big wicket of Chanderpaul. It was a quicker one from Harbhajan bowling from over the sticks which struck the backpad of Chanderpaul (12 from 87 balls) after defeating a cut shot. Umpire Gould raised his finger to give that out but with the batsman getting struck outside the line of off stump and the ball angling across the off stump by quite some distance! In the 54th over, Marlon Samuels (9 from 19 balls) did the cardinal mistake of going back to a full delivery to get hit on the pad plumb infront.

Carlton Baugh who came in next to join Darren Bravo survived a drop catch from MSD and went onto play some confident shots to keep the Indians at bay. In the 65th over, there was a rain break which increased the chances of a draw. But play resumed with just an over lost and in the 71st over against the run of play, a well set Darren Bravo (73 from 174 balls with 8 fours) fiddled outside off to a Mithun delivery which left him to get a thin edge to the keeper. In the very next over, Darren Sammy was struck on the pad by a pacy full length inswinger from Ishant which had Windies dangerously at 202 for 7 in fading light conditions. Fortunately for West Indies, the Umpires reckoned that the light was too dangerous to carry on.

The hosts finished the match at 202 for 7 in 71.3 overs with Carlton Baugh remaining unbeaten on 46 (from 61 balls with 5 fours and a six). Ishant Sharma got 4 for 53 in 19.3 overs which gave him a maiden 10-wicket haul. He was also the Man of the Match.