West Indies youngsters make India toil

West Indies 267 for 2 (Brathwaite 68, Edwards 65*, Barath 62, Bravo 57*) v India

	Kirk Edwards' driving down the ground was exceptional, as he went on to complete a brisk half-century© Associated Press

West Indies' top four made half-centuries for only the third time in Tests, to quell fears over how the young batting line-up would fare in the absence of the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul, their most experienced and reliable batsman.

Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite gave West Indies their best start in five years, before R Ashwin briefly buoyed India's spirits by sending back both openers bat-pad in the course of a testing spell before tea.Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo, though, added a century stand of their own to emphatically make it West Indies' day at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a pancake flat track but India made it even harder for their bowlers by shelling a couple of catches.

After losing the toss, MS Dhoni had hoped moisture in the pitch would help his quick bowlers early on, but both Ishant Sharma and debutant Varun Aaron - taking the place of the rested Umesh Yadav - got little sideways movement. Both bowlers consistently hit the 140kph mark, and though there were a couple of plays-and-misses, West Indies' young openers had few serious alarms.

Spin was introduced as early as the ninth over of the match, with Pragyan Ojha trying to exploit the West Indies' well-documented trouble against the turning ball. He got some extra bounce, and a few deliveries to spin, though not enough to impede West Indies' serene progress.

Both Barath and Brathwaite showcased a tight defence, and there were few flamboyant strokes, with the pair preferring to score mainly by guiding the loose deliveries on offer. The first caution-to-the-wind shot came from the usually stoic Brathwaite, who charged out and swatted Ashwin's second delivery over midwicket for four in the 19th over. Barath also caned Ashwin for a couple of boundaries a few overs before lunch, but he had been mostly measured in the rest of the session.

India's bowlers were tight early on in the second session, without managing a breakthrough. Ashwin induced an inside-edge from Brathwaite towards VVS Laxman at backward short leg, but the ball flew just wide of the fielder. Ishant steamed in and beat the bat without finding the edge, while Aaron followed up a sharp bouncer with an inviting fuller ball that Barath wafted at and nearly nicked. Barath chided himself for attempting that footwork-free drive, and on the other occasions when there was a momentary lapse of concentration, he and Brathwaite had a mid-pitch conference to egg each other on.

Smart stats The 137-run stand between Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite is eighth on the list of highest opening standsfor West Indies against India. It is also the fifth-highest opening stand for West Indies in India. The century opening partnership is the fourth for West Indies in Tests since December 2009. Between November 2006 and December 2009, they did not have a single century opening stand. This is the third time in Tests that the top four batsmen in the West Indian batting order have scored over fifty. The previous occasion was at Leeds in 1976. It is also the11th time that a team has managed the above feat against India. The century stand for the third wicket is the 14th for West Indies in Tests against India and the first since 2002. Darren Bravo, who scored his fourth fifty-plus score against India, has now scored two centuries and seven fifties in 13 matches at an average of 49.90. Kirk Edwards, who scored a century on debut against India earlier this year, has now scored two centuries and three fifties in his first six matches at an average of 61.88.

The runs weren't exactly coming in a torrent, but as the partnership stretched past 100, and past midway through the day, West Indies were completely in control. It was in the 51st over that India started clambering back into the game as Ashwin conjured some spin and bounce on the track. Brathwaite was put down by Laxman at backward short leg, and survived a big shout for lbw off the next ball, not offering a stroke to a ball turning in. In his next over, Ashwin struck, getting the ball to jump from a length, forcing an inside-edge from Barath on to the thigh pad that ended up as a simple catch for Dhoni. Soon after, Brathwaite followed, though his dismissal wasn't as clear cut - there might have been some glove as the ball spun past the bat and popped off the pad to short leg.

If there were worries in the West Indian camp that those two quick wickets were the harbinger of another familiar collapse, Edwards and Bravo eased the concerns. They provided a sample of their forceful strokeplay in the short period they were in the middle before tea, and continued their cavalier scoring after the interval as well. It's still early days in their career but their performances so far point towards an exciting long-term middle-order pairing for West Indies.

Ashwin continued to harry the batsmen with his variations, getting the odd delivery to jump sharply, but it was the other two spinners who produced India's chances in the final session. Virender Sehwag got an edge down the leg side off Edwards but Dhoni couldn't hang on to a tough chance, while Ojha was denied a wicket as Rahul Dravid put down a Bravo catch at first slip.

With the quicks not finding any reverse-swing, they were easy to handle with the old ball. Edwards' driving down the ground was exceptional, while Bravo relentlessly pinged the cover boundary as they went on to complete brisk half-centuries. On Wednesday, both will look to hurt India even more by kicking on to their hundreds. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Test in balance after gripping first day

West Indies 34 for 1 (Barath 26*, Sarwan 2*) trail India 246 (Raina 82, Harbhajan 70, Edwards 4-56, Rampaul 3-59, Bishoo 3-75) by 212 runs

	Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh added 146 to rescue India from 85 for 6... © AFP

West Indies survived a daylight robbery by Harbahajan Singh and Suresh Raina to end the first day of the series in slight ascendance, if at all. A damp pitch with uneven bounce, early wickets, a counterattack, a collapse, a spectacular catch, watchful anxious end, the first day had it all.

The tone was set when India took the gamble of batting first on a moist pitch to allow their two spinners best use of a surface likely to break. Ravi Rampaul removed the openers in an unbroken eight-over spell in the heat and humidity of Kingston, getting at least one early wicket for a fourth time in his last five innings. Rahul Dravid looked as solid during his 40 as he had during his two match-winning fifties five years ago at the same venue. Devendra Bishoo, playing his third Test, then intervened to remove VVS Laxman, Dravid and MS Dhoni - close to 23,000 runs between them - in the space of 20 deliveries.

The way Harbhajan and Raina ran away with the initiative in a 146-run stand from 85 for 6, only bandanas and eye patches were missing. Even they couldn't see Fidel Edwards, though, who came back with a spell of seriously quick bowling to help West Indies take the last four wickets for 15 runs. A spell of attrition followed, but it was just as tense, and Ishant Sharma came away with Lendl Simmons' wicket.

Smart stats The 146-run stand between Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh is India's sixth-best for the seventh wicket in overseas Tests. In the West Indies, it ranks fourth. Two of those top six have come within the last year - Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni had put together 172 in the Centurion Test against South Africa in 2010. Kingston continues to be a tough venue for India's batsmen - in 20 innings here, only once has the team topped 400. In his first five Tests, Ravi Rampaul had combined figures of 4 for 439; in his last three Tests, he has taken 14 for 289. In his last seven Tests, Harbhajan has scored 478 runs, which is 23% of his total career runs scored over 94 matches. During this period, he averages 53.11, with two centuries and as many fifties. India went in with three debutants in this Test - the last time they did so was against England in Mohali in December 2001, when Sanjay Bangar, Iqbal Siddiqui and Tinu Yohanan made their debuts. The score at the start of the seventh-wicket stand (85) is India's second-lowest against West Indies since 2000. Their lowest score at the start of the seventh-wicket stand since 2000 is 46 for 6 against Australia in Mumbai in 2004.

In between there were unremarkable maiden Test innings for Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli. The first to fall in the morning, which now seems days ago, was M Vijay, who might as well have been wearing his IPL kit when he slapped a full and wide delivery straight to point. Abhinav, his state-mate and prolific run-getter in domestic cricket, came close to edging thrice before he played one on for 11.

Dravid and Laxman, batting together for the first time since the Boxing Day Test in Durban last year, handled the misbehaving pitch - length balls reared towards the bat handle, short ones hardly reached the keeper, and the spinners extracted appreciable turn - well during their 34-run stand. Bishoo then came on with immediate impact. He began with a perfect legbreak, just short of driving length, on off, and produced the outside edge from Laxman 17 minutes before lunch. After the interval Dravid hit Bishoo for two boundaries before the bowler got his own back with an edge off a full legbreak. Dhoni played a premeditated forward-defensive, and the extra bounce again took the shoulder of the bat. Not only was the bowling good until then, the captaincy too had been positive.

Harbhajan, though, played havoc with West Indies' minds. After watching Raina avoid an over full of hostile bouncers from Edwards, Harbhajan tore into Bishoo. What made it even better, and perhaps rattled West Indies more, was that it all featured little slogging. He hit his fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries for fours: over the bowler's head, a late-cut, and over midwicket. In the next over he cut Edwards for another four.

Raina, perhaps relieved at making it to the other end, pulled out two beautiful extra-cover drives off Bishoo's next over. Darren Sammy called back Rampaul, who tried to bowl fast and into Harbhajan's ribs. Harbhajan got inside the line twice and glanced him fine for fours before smacking another through extra cover. A clueless Bishoo served a full toss and a long hop in the next over, both of which Raina hit for fours. With barely a risk taken, the partnership now read 56 in 6.2 overs. Bishoo's figures had gone from 3.2-2-11-3 to 7-2-44-3. Harbhajan was 36 off 22, Raina 25 off 28.

It was sensational stuff, and West Indies were blown away. Rampaul and Sammy brought some sanity back to proceedings, but by then Harbhajan and Raina had their eyes set on big innings. While Harbhajan still kept hitting the boundaries, Raina dropped anchor, and followed Harbhajan to a half-century with two lovely push-driven straight fours off Sammy.

	... But Fidel Edwards brought West Indies right back with fiery pace © Associated Press

Lest it be thought that the pitch had become a featherbed, Rampaul produced two nasty ones to beat Raina even with the partnership about 70 runs old. Again the ball kicked from a length, and beat the outside edge. The batsmen, though, chose the last over before tea, bowled by Bishoo, to make a statement, slogging the hell out of him for 17 runs. That made it 150 runs for the second session, but Bishoo hadn't been entirely negated.

With Edwards breathing fire after tea, Bishoo ran in from deep backwards square, and to his left, and then flew further to his left to claim a top-edged hook from Harbhajan. There was more where that sharp bouncer came from. Edwards was searing quick. He operated at two lengths, either full and swinging in or aimed at the throat. Praveen Kumar fell to the full one, Amit Mishra to the bouncer. Raina, stranded at the other end, could have chosen to either trust the doughty Ishant Sharma or go for the big ones. He went for the latter, and found Bishoo again at deep backward square leg to fall for a second score in the 80s in his nine-Test career.

In reply West Indies were austere, India accurate. For one hour they went without a boundary, Praveen Kumar and Ishant were a bit mindful of not conceding too many runs too. There was an interrogation on, but it didn't quite reach a level where it could break the likes of Colonel Nathan R Jessep down. The truth, it seemed, lay in balls turning square and bouncing up and down. Who can, and who cannot, handle it? © ESPN EMEA Ltd.