Bridgetown (Barbados), June 30 (IANS) The West Indies were 138 for six in their first innings and trailing India by 63 runs at lunch after early morning rains led to another delayed start on day three of the second Test at the Kensington Oval here Thursday.
The session could have entirely belonged to the West Indies had it not been for the dismissal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (37), who played a needless shot off Abhimanyu Mithun (2-23) right before the break. Marlon Samuels, who started the day with Chanderpaul at 98 for five, was batting at 43 alongside Carlton Baugh at 1.
The home team, however, still has a good chance to overhaul India’s score of 201 and take a first innings lead after having done all the hard work in the curtailed session.
Chanderpaul and Samuels responded well to some hostile bowling by Ishant Sharma, who bowled with sheer pace and was easily the pick of the Indian bowlers despite going wicket less in his seven overs.
Sharma was constantly at the two batsmen, bowling short of a length with some angled at the ribs and some hitting the helmet. The Samuels-Chanderpaul duo somehow managed to weather the storm and went on to add 77 valuable runs for the sixth wicket.
But after being patient for most part of his 117-ball knock, Chanderpaul played on while attempting a pull off Mithun and gave India something to cheer about going into the break.
