Rain checks India's march on day four, WI trail by 247 runs

A short rain shower stopped India's march in the first cricket Test against West Indies as the hosts went into an early lunch on day four at 76 for two, still trailing by 247 runs, here today.

At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Rajendra Chandrika (22) and Marlon Samuels (39) put on 55 runs for the third wicket before the morning session was cut short by rain and early lunch taken.

The morning began with overnight batsmen Chandrika and Darren Bravo (10) looking to play on for time as well as score runs whenever possible. India started the proceedings with Ishant Sharma (1-17) and Umesh Yadav (1-19), the duo looking sharp and bowling fuller deliveries, especially the former who was a marked improvement from his first innings' outing.
 

And this brought immediate success as Yadav sent back Bravo off the fifth ball of the day, as Ajinkya Rahane drove to his left and held a two-handed catch at gully. The duo bowled a consistent spell thereafter, testing both Chandrika and Samuels, but the batsmen showed enough resilience to stay put at the wicket.

Samuels in particular looked aggressive and used good hand-eye co-ordination to smack nine boundaries in the session. The two batsmen put on 50 off 98 balls, while the West Indies' score crossed the 50-mark in the 27th over.

Mohammed Shami (0-20) was soon introduced into the attack, and he was on the money straightaway.

There was one incident where he could have sent Samuels back, as he induced an edge only for the ball to die down on its way to the keeper Wriddhiman Saha. He caught the ball but the umpires checked upstairs for a replay and it didn't prove conclusively that the catch was cleanly taken, and Samuels was given a life in the 25th over. He was on 16 at that time.

He raced on quickly thereafter and looked more comfortable at the crease as time passed, as did Chandrika at the other end. About 40 minutes were left for lunch when rain intervened and cut short the session.

Despite the shower passing by, the umpires called for an early lunch to allow for the ground staff to prepare the field for resumption at 12.25 pm local time.

R Ashwin (0-20) was the other bowler used in this session, even as Murali Vijay stayed away from the field for a third consecutive day as a precaution. He had been hit on his thumb when fending off Shannon Gabriel on the first morning.

Yesterday, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav shared eight wickets to bowl the hosts out for 243 runs and enforce the follow-on thereafter.

India amassed 566 for eight declared in their first session.
(REOPENS DEL 4)

Rahul struck one six and seven fours in his confident knock.

Starc had figures of 2 for 22 at lunch while the miserly Hazlewood had 1 for 11.

Earlier in the morning, it took Ashwin just five balls to dismiss the last Australian wicket when he induced a wild shot from Starc only to be holed out to deep mid-wicket.

Starc, who unbeaten on 57 off 58 balls overnight in a team total of 256 for nine, departed for 61 off 63 balls, and his pulverizing knock included three sixes and six fours.

With Starc's scalp, Ashwin also went past the great Kapil Dev's record most Test wickets in a home season.

Ashwin's tally of 64 wickets in 10 Test matches at home went past Kapil's earlier mark of 63 wickets in 13 Tests created way back on 1979-80 at the beginning of the great all-rounder's career.

While Ashwin ended up with three victims, Umesh Yadav was the best bowler for India with superb figures of 4 or 32, his best figures at home and second-best overall after the 5 for 93 he took against the same opponents in Perth in January 2012 on his debut.

However, the Indians' delight at ending the Australian innings, which had unexpectedly bloomed bigger from a struggling 205 for nine due to Starc's counter-hitting last evening, was nipped in the bud when they lost three of their top scoring batsmen, including captain Kohli, within the first 15 overs.