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May 31, 2006

Antigua & Barbuda were led from the front by their skipper Sylvester Joseph, who made a commanding hundred on the first day of the two-day match against the Indians. The homeside put on 300 runs on the board after batting for a little over 72 overs and then removed Virender Sehwag before Stumps. Wasim Jaffer is batting on a composed 25 and giving him company is VVS Laxman. Both these batsmen are important for India to stay as long as possible in the middle with both of them playing their first match in the Caribbean on this tour.

Earlier in the morning, Sylvester Joesph won the toss and chose to bat first at the Police Recreation Ground in St.John’s. Sylvester Joesph who had come after the first wicket fell for 39, took his time and as he got the measure of the Indian bowling attack, it was a complete domination from him. The Indian attack looked toothless and in particular Irfan Pathan and Ramesh Powar, who ended up with embarrassing figures at the end of the day. Pathan was taken for 50 in his 12 overs and Powar was also clobbered for 50 and these were taken from just 6 overs! India fielded the fast bowling trio of Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and VRV Singh. Sreesanth took three lower order wickets and Munaf bowled well in patches taking a couple of wickets. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh kept their heads up with a decent work out and they never lost the batsmen’s respect. For the homeside, Skipper Sylvester Joseph was stranded on an unbeaten 128 which had 15 fours and a couple of sixes. If the 1st day of this match was going to decide the playing XI of the Indian team for the 1st Test starting on June 2nd, then one thing looks certain that Ramesh Powar is most probably going to be left out of the XI. Irfan Pathan may also get the axe if present form has to be considered but India always back Pathan all the way despite his drastic drop in bowling form. For this match, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina have been rested.

Antigua & Barbuda 1st Inngs 300 all out (Sylvester Joseph 128* Greg Skepple 35 Devon Thomas 30, Sreesanth 3/46 Munaf 2/39 Kumble 1/22 Harbhajan 1/37 VRV Singh 1/25 Pathan 1/50 Powar 1/50) Vs Indians 1st Inngs 33/1 (Jaffer 25* Laxman 0* Sehwag 6, Adam Sanford 1/17)
 

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