By Anil - Oct 17, '02
October 17 2002

Ace spinner Anil Kumble celebrated his 32nd birthday by scything through the Windies lineup on the first day of play, his 5 wickets for 30 runs bringing up his 30th 5-wicket haul in Tests to put India in a commanding position. Hooper won the toss on a warm, sunny day in Chennai, less hot than in Mumbai. Surprisingly Hooper dropped his best spinner Nagamootoo on a venue famed for its assistance to spin early, as well as Cuffy, and brought in debutants Breese and Lawson for a critical Test. India kept faith with the side that won the first Test in Mumbai.

On a newly laid pitch that was slow and dry, and not particularly helpful to pace or spin, his team proceeded to squander the advantage with a spinelessly cautious display of batting. This was the best chance for them to put together a big score after the paltry 157 and 188 in Mumbai, and while a degree of caution was called for after the disaster in the first Test, towards the end of the day they had crashed to an equally dismal 167.

The openers were restricted by fine spells from both Srinath and Zaheer bowling a tight line and length. With neither Gayle nor W Hinds willing to take any risks, the quickies bowled maiden after maiden and the good crowd in Chidambaram stadium was bored half to death. The only scoring shot off Srinath's opening spell was an edged boundary.

Ganguly eventually brought in Bangar and Harbhajan to replace them, and in a rare show of aggression Gayle steered, pulled, and cut 3 boundaries off Bangar's third over as he erred in length. That was the only show of defiance in a painfully dour if solid-looking opening partnership. The breakthrough came when Gayle was foxed by Harbhajan's "doosra", aiming at midwicket but only scooping the ball up to Sachin at point. The Windies crawled to 45 for the loss of 1 wicket at lunch.

In the afternoon session, each of the rest of the frontline bowlers combined to leave the Windies gasping by tea. Wavell Hinds was put out of his misery when he padded up to a delivery on offstump by Kumble. The normally sparkling Sarwan, fortunate to escape two confident LBW shouts from Kumble (turned down by Asoka De Silva) was claimed by Srinath for an uncharacteristically painful 19 off 60 deliveries - bowled through the gate off a faint inside edge by a lovely delivery that nipped in sharply, uprooting two stumps.

This was followed by the best partnership of the day by the Windies' most solid players, Chanderpaul and Hooper. The skipper played an attacking and breezy innings of 35 off 38 deliveries containing 6 boundaries, despite a couple of close calls. Zaheer dealt this rebuilding effort a crushing blow with a well disguised slower delivery, Hooper committing himself into the shot early for his opposite number Ganguly to throw himself to his left at covers to complete a splendid catch. The Windies went into tea reeling at 118 for 4.

Post-tea it was all Kumble, as the leg spinner served up a devastating spell to end all hope for the Windies in this Test. He sent a quick, awkwardly rising delivery at the sedate Chanderpaul, who top-edged for Parthiv Patel to take it beautifully at chest height standing up to the stumps. Kumble followed that up with a delivery that kept low to catch Ryan Hinds plumb in front. He yorked Dillon and had debutante Lawson caught by Ganguly at midwicket to round off his 5-wicket haul. Harbhajan played the supporting role this time, making short work of the tail by having both Jacobs and Breese snapped up by Sehwag at forward shortleg.

The wicket was slow, and although there was some sharp bounce in the last session, the reluctance to play their shots did in the Windies batsmen. Sehwag made a mockery of their effort late in the evening as he hammered 3 boundaries in front of the wicket off Collins' first over, and blasted 24 runs off 21 deliveries out of India's 31. Bangar as always, played the foil with 6 off 27.

A disciplined performance by all the main India bowlers, supported by a sharp fielding effort and clever juggling of the attack by the captain, helped along by a needlessly negative approach from the Windies, has put India firmly in charge. With the formidable Indian batting lineup all intact for tomorrow's play, the West Indians appear condemned to spectacular defeat in this Test, perhaps by an even larger margin that in the first Test.