West Indies stumble after Hinds

Three wickets in the space of 18 runs brought India back into contention late on the opening day of the final and decisive Fifth Test here yesterday, just when a trio of belligerent young West Indian batsmen seemed to have played them out of the match.

The stumble transformed the West Indies' stranglehold from 246 for 1 with 22 overs remaining, after Wavell Hinds shared partnerships of 111 for the first wicket with his fellow Jamaican left-hander Chris Gayle and 135 for the second with the neat right-hander Ramnaresh Sarwan, to 287 for 4 at the close.

Had Shiv Sunder Das held on to Carl Hooper's drive at extra-cover off left-arm fast bowler Asish Nehra 14 runs later, India's fightback would have been nearly complete. It could be an expensive error. Hooper, 10 at the time, came into the match with three hundreds and 556 runs in the previous four Tests.

Hooper saw out the day on 14. His partner is the left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has also had three hundreds in the series and with whom he has shared stands of 293 in the First Test, 215 in the Third and 186 in the Fourth.

Hind was on 113, in an innings of flawless quality, Sarwan had made 54 and India had long since squandered the advantage of bowling on an unusually well-grassed Sabina Park pitch when the balance was shifted by a wanton stroke. Stepping out in an attempt to hoist Harbhajan Singh for his third six over long-off, Hinds landed the ball into the lap of the fielder placed back in the position three overs earlier.

As Hinds trudged off, head bowed, after just under five hours batting highlighted by his two sixes and fluent off-drives that brought him most of his 14 fours, he passed Brian Lara on his way out.

The premier West Indies batsman, with an unsatisfactory series average of 30, again scratched uncharacteristically for nine. His dismissal seemed likely any ball and came off his 25th to an edge off Nehra.

When Sarwan was caught at leg-slip from a thin inside-edge on to his pad off Harbhajan in the next over for 65 ­ his fourth score between 50 and 65 in the series ­ the spring that had left the Indian step earlier in the day suddenly reappeared.

Seduced by a green pitch not even the oldest locals could remember, Sourav Ganguly chose to bowl on winning the toss for the first time in the series. But his veteran fast Javagal Srinath and his two young left-arm accomplices, Nehra and Zaheer Khan, sprayed the new ball in all directions, allowing Hinds and Gayle to assess the conditions before changing into attacking mode.

Even before lunch, Ganguly was trundling his medium-pace and Harbhajan was having a couple of overs. Even after Gayle, bothered by leg cramps, was caught in the gully off Zaheer for 68, the Indians looked at a loss to know where the next wicket was coming from. When it did, two more quickly followed.