Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Sharma lifts India before more rain

Updated July 1, 2011 09:23:00

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma mopped up the West Indies tail to capture his 100th Test wicket before the fickle weather threatened the chances of a result after a rain-interrupted third day of the second Test in Barbados.

Sharma bowled superbly on a lively Kensington Oval pitch that suited the quicks to finish with career-best figures of 6 for 55, including the last two wickets in successive balls to remain on a hat-trick.

The lanky paceman took the last three wickets to restrict West Indies to 190 and give India a narrow first innings lead of 11 runs before the foul weather brought play to an early halt.

The visitors, who have never won a Test in Barbados, extended their advantage to 34 runs by the close after reaching 23 without loss in their second innings.

Abhinav Mukund was unbeaten on 8 with Murali Vijay on 3 after their innings was delayed first by a tropical storm, then bad light as the umpires called an early end to proceedings.

West Indies' Marlon Samuels, who replaced sacked vice-captain Brendan Nash, repaid the selectors' faith by scoring an unbeaten 78, only to run out of partners.

He also shared a vital sixth wicket stand of 77 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, dismissed for 37 in the penultimate over of the morning session, after the home side slumped to 5 for 57 and were in danger of falling well short of the tourists' total.

Resuming on 5 for 98, Samuels and Chanderpaul adopted a cautious approach, eliminating any risky shots as they looked for a first innings lead after West Indies lost a tight first Test in Jamaica.

They reached their 50 partnership off a painstakingly slow 136 balls but were looking more and more comfortable at the crease when Chanderpaul suddenly dragged a short-pitched ball from Abhimanyu Mithun back on to his stumps with the total on 134.

West Indies went to lunch at 6 for 138 but lost their remaining four wickets before tea with captain Darren Sammy (15) and Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards (both no score) all falling to Sharma.

-Reuters

Tags: sport, cricket, barbados, india

First posted July 1, 2011 09:00:00


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