An unbeaten century by Sachin Tendulkar put him on par with Sir Donald Bradman with 29 Testhundreds and saw his team close out day one of the second Test against the West Indiesat the Queen's Park Oval in a position of strength at 262 for four.
An unbeaten century by Sachin Tendulkar put him on par with Sir Donald Bradman with 29 Testhundreds and saw his team close out day one of the second Test against the West Indiesat the Queen's Park Oval in a position of strength at 262 for four.
Tendulkar was hardly at his best during his more thanfive-hour long stay at the crease but completed his first century on the West Indian soil nonetheless, which left himjoint second in the list of most number of Test hundred scorers, behind only the illustrious SunilGavaskar, who has 34.
It was a decent day for India though the runs came mainlyfrom two batsmen, Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who produced another solid knock after his century innings in the firstTest at Georgetown.
Tendulkar, who remained unbeaten on 113 at close of playyesterday, was scratchy at the start and survived many close calls before settling down to get his rhythm back. But Dravidstarted from where he had left off in Georgetown and was confidence personified.
The duo put on 124 for the third wicket after India'scontinued experiment at the top of the batting order had resulted in yet another failure. Shiv Sunder Das and his newpartner Sanjay Bangar were unable to provide a good start, both returning to pavilion with only 38 runs on the board asWest Indies saw their gameplan of putting India in to bat succeeding.
But Tendulkar's fruitful partnerships with Dravid, and then with skipper Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman denied anyadvantage to the home team and ensured India finished the day on a reasonably high note.
Giving Tendulkar company at close was Laxman who lived dangerously for his 21.Laxman and Tendulkar have so far added 44 for the unfinished fifth wicket.
A lot was being made about the uncertain nature of the pitch and the help that fast bowlers would get from it whichsaw both the teams enforcing their pace attack.
While India took the surprising decision to leave out leg-spinner Anil Kumble, a veteran of more than 300 Test wickets, toaccommodate left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra, West Indies too preferred fast bowler Marlon Black over leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine toreplace an injured Mahendra Nagamootoo.
The pitch had an uneven bounce alright, and a lot of lateral movement too but the West Indian new ball bowlers weretoo wayward in the initial overs to drive home any advantage.
With wicketkeeper batsman Deep Dasgupta being replaced by debutant Ajay Ratra, the task of opening the innings fell onBangar. A regular opener for his domestic side, Railways, Bangar was nevertheless nervous in his new role in aninternational game.
PTI
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