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June 10, 2006 (Click to see the Scorecard)

Sehwag and Dravid put India on top in the 2nd Test as the visitors ended Day 1 at a formidable 361 for four. Rahul Dravid is still there in the middle on 95 and giving him company is Mohammad Kaif, who is looking solid in his defence. Virender Sehwag gave India the initiative with his blistering knock of 180 which came off just 190 balls with the help of 20 fours and 2 sixes. West Indies bowlers did reasonably well but the pitch was way too good for the batsmen. Pedro Collins was the stand out bowler taking all the four wickets to go down. West Indies haven’t taken the 2nd new ball and it might be because the old one is reverse swinging.

 
Tale of the Morning Session

India got off to a scintillating start in the first session of the opening day of the 2nd Test match at St.Lucia. Virender Sehwag smashed his way to get 99 in just 75 balls and it was a pity that he couldn’t get that one run that would have created history for an Indian batsman! The last over before lunch was bowled by Collymore and in the 2nd ball with Sehwag batting on 93; it looked most probably that he would be only completing his hundred after lunch. But its Sehwag and he’s highly unpredictable as he went hard at a short of length delivery bowled outside the offstump to get a four over the slips! He then lost strike in the next ball as he thought he could squeeze in a couple. Jaffer then played a dot ball and then got a single to what was an easy two on the legside. So the final ball before lunch required Sehwag to get a couple of runs to get to that magical figure! He moved away from his crease and looked to smash Collymore straight down the ground. But he failed in connecting his cross batted shot well and managed to hit it straight to mid off for just the 1 run. Great field placement from Lara as he was having the long off placed a while ago and now a mid off just to delay Sehwag’s hundred!

<p>India had won the toss and had taken a bold decision in batting first on what looked like a green wicket. But the grass on the track seems to have been holding the surface well. Sehwag just enjoyed his time in the middle with the ball coming on well to the bat and the result is there to be seen with India at 140/0 in just 25 Overs with Sehwag on 99! Not to forget that Sehwag does have a partner at the other end in Wasim Jaffer who is batting well on 34. India have brought in Irfan Pathan for the injured Sreesanth and West Indies have made two changes getting Jerome Taylor and Pedro Collins for Fidel Edwards and Dave Mohammed.

Tale of the Afternoon Session

West Indies fought back in the post lunch session with Wasim Jaffer and VVS Laxman going for the drives through the offside to deliveries that were slanting across them at short of driving length. Pedro Collins was the bowler who was testing the batsmen outside the offstump and both batsmen fell to that. But it wasn’t before the one run scored by Sehwag to bring up his hundred which had come in just 78 balls. India needed a partnership now that they had lost two wickets quickly after the break and with the West Indies pressing hard for some more wickets. Dravid along with Sehwag put on a good stand to see India through for Tea without losing any further wickets. India added 90 more runs in this session and Sehwag was still there on 142 and Dravid was batting solidly and he hardly put a foot wrong.

Tale of the final session

India started off the final session in a busy note and the runs started to come at a brisk rate not because of the big shots but because of the urgency in the running between the wickets. Both batsmen were capitalizing on the weak shoulders of the fielders and the 1s were being converted into the 2s every time the ball traveled to the outfield. Most of the West Indies fielders were struggling with their shoulders for some reason or the other. Sehwag was living dangerously at this stage and he was even dropped by Gayle at short mid wicket looking to pull a short one from Taylor. But he was soon gone as he was losing his concentration very badly and was playing far too many reckless shots. Collins was once again the man who took the wicket and Sehwag was done in by an awkward short pitched delivery that was bowled into his rib cage. Sehwag tried to flick it off the backfoot without having any sort of balance and the leading edge spooned up in the air to be taken by the bowler. Collins then cleaned up Yuvraj Singh’s stumps with a reverse swinging inswinger and the left hander played all around that delivery to give Collins his 100th Test wicket. Rahul Dravid was the best batsman on show and he went on with his innings and found an able partner in Kaif to see the day’s play through. West Indies fell short by 5 overs in the end and there over rate was very slow because of the pace dominated attack.

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