From 35/3 the wickets continued to tumble. Rahul Dravid, usually the mainstay of the batting when things go wrong was involved in a needless run out. There was a series of calls, the usual “yes” and “no” before a good throw from Shivnarine Chanderpaul saw Cuffy whip off the bails at the bowler’s end as Dravid (17) was found short of his crease.

VVS Laxman, man of the match in India’s win at Port of Spain played a loose shot. After making just one, Laxman played an airy drive away from his body, only to get clean bowled.

Ajay Ratra, after being dropped by Hooper at slip made sure that the West Indian skipper did not have to rue his mistake for long. Merv Dillon was the beneficiary as Ratra (1) edged one to the keeper.

Harbhajan Singh, pulled one four in characteristic fashion before attempting to repeat the shot with somewhat different results. Dillon was the man waiting at deep backward square when Harbhajan Singh (13) sent the ball straight there.

Zaheer Khan smacked one overpitched Dillon delivery beautifully through covers but was undone by a sharp bouncer from Adam Sanford. Fending the ball off awkwardly Zaheer Khan found Ramnaresh Sarwan at short leg.

With Javagal Srinath out in the middle, Ganguly stepped up a gear. Coming down the track to Dillon Ganguly seared one ball through covers before taking the aerial route for maximum off the very next ball. At the end of the over tea was called and West Indies walked off the field perfectly content.

The fall of Das’ wicket was crucial. A change of guard in the opening partnership meant that Jaffer came into the side to join Das. After edging one streaky boundary through the slips and punching one cleanly off the back foot to the point fence, Jaffer failed the test. Poking at one outside the off, Jaffer walked back to the pavilion as Dillon celebrated removing both openers.

Tendulkar then dealt Indian fans a heavy blow, falling for a duck. When he played away from his body to give Pedro Collins his first wicket, again caught Jacobs, he notched up ducks in consecutive innings for the first time in his 94-match career.

Rahul Dravid, virtually opening the innings in the light of Das’ first ball dismissal, played steadily enough to reach 17 while Sourav Ganguly, content to leave a majority of deliveries outside the off was unbeaten on 5 when the skies opened and rain came down.

The Kensington Oval in Barbados is traditionally a wicket that favours the fast men. Hard, shiny and true, the wicket has proved to be a nightmare for Indian teams in the past. Sourav Ganguly, confident on the back of a rare overseas victory, is looking to stretch the run long enough to make it count for a series win.

When Carl Hooper won the toss he had no hesitation in sticking India in to bat. Some experts feel that this is a negative move. Hooper however, happy with the home team’s performance in the second Test is betting on his fast bowlers. Whether they will do the job for West Indies or not, remains to be seen.

Teams:

India team: SS Das, W Jaffer, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, *SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, +A Ratra, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, J Srinath, A Nehra.

West Indies team: CH Gayle, SC Williams, RR Sarwan, BC Lara, *CL Hooper, S Chanderpaul, +RD Jacobs, M Dillon, PT Collins, A Sanford, CE Cuffy.