Chanderpaul, Samuels thrive as West Indies take command Centuries from opener Wavell Hinds and the reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and an elegant unbeaten 89 from Marlon Samuels put India on the backfoot at the end of the third day's play at the Eden Gardens. Hinds, who made exactly 100, laid the foundation for the strong West Indies response along with his opening partner Chris Gayle (88). The duo put on 172 runs for the first wicket - a record at the ground. With Chanderpaul (136*) and Samuels, later, realising an unbroken 191 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket, the visitors at last were able to get on top of the Indians. They now lead by 88 runs with five wickets in hand and two days of play remaining. For India, Harbhajan Singh, who claimed three wickets for 101, was the most successful bowler. Earlier, the hosts, after opting to bat, made 358 in their first innings. All their batsmen got starts but no one except Sanjay Bangar (77) made it past a half-century. It, then, took a gritty 47 from Parthiv Patel and a belligerent 46 from Srinath to ensure that India recovered to post a honourable 358.

Chanderpaul: It's my best century so far Left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul was thrilled to fulfil his dream of scoring a Test century away from home. It took him 61 Tests but the 28-year-old finally reached three figures outside the Caribbean in the third Test against India at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. The 136 not out was his sixth century in Tests and fifth against India. "I'm very happy to get a hundred here," Chanderpaul told reporters at the end of the third day's play. It's my best century so far simply by virtue of being the only one I've hit away from home," he said. The Guyanese had struck a career-best 140 against India in Georgetown earlier this year during a five-Test series, in which he scored three centuries and aggregated 562 runs to be named Man of the Series after his team won 2-1. "It was not an easy wicket to play your shots on," Chanderpaul said on Friday. "I just got in and kept working hard which paid off in the end." Chanderpaul's 255-ball knock and his 191-run unbroken stand with Marlon Samuels, who is batting on a career-best 89, took the Windies to 446 for five, 88 ahead of India's first innings 358. "It was good to have someone like Marlon batting with me. He is the kind of batsman who takes a lot pressure off you," Chanderpual said. He went on to add that West Indies were now favourites to win the Test and salvage pride ahead of the seven-match one-day series. "I think we have a very good chance from here. I just love batting, I hope to go out and do well again tomorrow."

Bangar replaces Mongia in squad for first three one-dayers Indian selectors on Thursday decided to replace a struggling Dinesh Mongia with all-rounder Sanjay Bangar for the first three one-dayers of the seven-match one-day international series against the West Indies. Left-arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan, not playing the Kolkata Test because of knee trouble, was the other player to be left out. "Zaheer would probably miss the series because he is resting under medical advice," Indian board secretary Karunakaran Nair, who made the announcement, told reporters. The rest of the members of the squad that represented India in the Champions Trophy select themselves. The squad: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (wk), Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Jaiprakash Yadav, Sanjay Bangar.

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