Hooper hands India the initial advantage
Pratim Das Gupta - 11 May 2002
After the Trinidad triumph and the Barbados debacle, the Indian remix
of the Caribbean calypso shifted to the scenic island of Antigua. With
the weather not playing naughty, the opening day promised to be a
cracker, especially with the series locked at 1-1 and everything to
play for.
With much deliberation, the Indian think-tank stuck to Ajay Ratra as
the gloveman but left Harbhajan Singh out and brought the experienced
Anil Kumble back. Sourav Ganguly did his mite by losing the toss four
times in a row, and Carl Hooper hoped for an encore of his side's
demolishing act by asking the Indians to bat first.
As a disturbed Shiv Sunder Das and a wiry Wasim Jaffer made their way
out, the West Indies, with their four-pronged pace attack, hoped to
make most of the new red cherry. The pitch, although bouncy, did not
have half the life of Barbados, and Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy
tried to talk more with their eyes than with the ball.
Nevertheless, Hooper's bowling change worked when Pedro Collins took
over from Cuffy. Das received a ball that got too high on him, and all
he did was play it onto his stumps. Rahul "the Wall" Dravid, however,
did not allow the Barbados nightmare to be relived. He held his end up
as Jaffer stroked the ball to all parts of the ground.
The Mumbai opener looked immaculate as he rocked onto his back foot
and played some majestic drives. Dravid, at the other end, got into
some form and started to middle the ball. Within no time, the critical
opening hours of the morning session had gone past and the new ball
had lost its shine. The Indians went into a hearty lunch with Jaffer
looking good on 48.
The post-lunch session had the West Indians on the mat as the four
seamers ran up and down in vain. Although runs did not come at express
pace, the Indians did not look in any trouble whatsoever, with Dravid
playing some masterful strokes and Jaffer carrying on his morning
flair. Hooper was already regretting his decision to field first and
tried his own "buffet bowling" unsuccessfully. Both Indian batsmen
reached their fifties, and Jaffer seemed all set to notch up a
glorious century.
India came back after tea looking to drive home the advantage they had
gained in the first two sessions of play. But Collins had other ideas.
Jaffer's habit of opening the face of the bat once in a while spelled
doomsday for him as he edged one to Ridely Jacobs and departed for 86.
The West Indians had finally made their breakthrough, but the sight of
Sachin Tendulkar striding out must have been menacing. Here was the
best batsman in the world, with a perfect platform of 168 for two,
ready unleash his brilliant stroke-play. After scores of 0, 0 and 8,
the entire cricketing fraternity was expecting a big knock from the
small man.
Branded as an lbw candidate, first by Sunil Gavaskar and then by Andy
Roberts, Tendulkar did not fall to that mode of dismissal; he edged
his very first ball to Jacobs to notch up another duck in teh series.
Two wickets in two balls for Pedro Collins, and the Windies had
stormed right back into the match.
A reinvented Ganguly then came in and started milking the bowling
straight away, even pulled Adam Sanford for a six. Dravid, though,
went into his shell and scored just 9 in a 50-run partnership with his
captain.
The repair job by Dravid and Ganguly, however, showed true grit and
character, denying the opponents the chance to get at the famous
Indian tail immediately. The new ball was taken after the 83rd over,
but it did no damage, and India took the opening day's honours at 226
for three.
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