- DellmarWest Indies' legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo (left) is hugged by captain Carl Hooper, while wicket-keeper Junior Murray (centre) and Chris Gayle join the celebration after the fall of India's master batsman, Sachin Tendulkar (second right), on yesterday's third day of the first Cable and Wireless cricket Test at Bourda Oval in Guyana.
Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
RIGHT-ARM LEGSPINNER Mahendra Nagamootoo was the toast of Bourda yesterday as the West Indies pushed for control and India battled for survival on the third day of the first Test in the Cable & Wireless Series.
With India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar parading his class, stroking the West Indies bowlers to all parts of Bourda, and India recovering nicely after a stumbling start, Nagamootoo cut him down on the stroke of tea to send the fans wild as the Windies, with India then on 144 for four, looked set to take command of the contest.
When bad light ended the day's play with 12 overs to go, however, India were on 237 for four replying to the West Indies' formidable 501 in their first innings. And with Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman not out on 57 and 46 respectively and batting beautifully, the West Indies have a job on their hands in their bid to win the Test match.
Victory could well depend on whether or not India save the follow-on and although it looked possible when Tendulkar was dismissed, it does not seem possible now - not with the target for India now only 65 runs.
Playing in his third Test match and with six wickets to show for his efforts up to then, the 26-year-old Nagamootoo, the most unlikely candidate for the role of a star against batsmen born and bred on spin bowling, destroyed the best of them - and in style at that.
It was no one-ball miracle, no fluke. It was at the end of some splendid bowling.
Joining the action with his team on 21 for two, Tendulkar, a few days from his 29th birthday, was in superb form. He played some scintillating strokes, including a superb cut to the thirdman boundary in Nagamootoo's first over and he looked set to tick off his 29th century and to emulate the brilliance, the dominance of Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul on the first two days.
In his third spell, however, Nagamootoo beat Tendulkar when the batsman attempted to drive through the off-side off the front-foot. That was only the second time that he had missed the ball, and the cheers that rang around the ground must have inspired him.
The Guyanese bowled two maiden overs to the Asian master, he beat him with a bouncing legspinner when he attempted to force off the back foot but Christopher Gayle at slip dropped the catch, and next delivery it was pandemonium at Bourda when Tendulkar went back, spread his legs across his wicket, attempted to smash a shortish delivery over mid-wicket and into kingdom and was leg before wicket to a delivery that skidded onto him.
That was 144 for four and although Dravid and Laxman batted to the end of the day, although, with the batsman on 10 at 174 for four, he hit the edge of Laxman's bat and the ball dropped inches short of Gayle and neither he nor the West Indies got another wicket, he was still smiling when he walked off the field.
He was happy with his catch - and so were the fans who went home talking about how he mesmerised a Tendulkar in good form and then cut him down.
The West Indies fast bowlers, however, all three of them, deserved a share of the spotlight for although they were a bit wayward, they bowled with aggression at the start, to the extent that for a time it looked like the days of yesterday when West Indies fast bowlers dominated India's batsmen.
With the ball bouncing nicely off the pitch, Cameron Cuffy made it six for one in the second over when Deep Dasgupta, opening the inning after over 12 hours behind the stumps and looking timid to the rising delivery, played tentatively to a good length delivery and was leg before wicket; and Mervyn Dillon made it 21 for two when captain Sourav Ganguly, a left-hander, ducked into a short-pitched delivery, attempted to hook two deliveries later, and skied a catch to Nagamootoo at square-leg.
It was almost 21 for three when Tendulkar played forward defensively to the next delivery from Dillon and the ball went so close to the outside
SCOREBOARD
West Indies first innings
(overnight 494-7)
C.Gayle c Dasgupta b Srinath 12
S.Williams lbw b Srinath 13
R.Sarwan c Khan b Singh 53
B.Lara c Dasgupta b Srinath 0
C.Hooper c Singh b Kumble 233
S.Chanderpaul lbw b Khan 140
J.Murray lbw b Khan 0
M.Nagamootoo not out 15
M.Dillon lbw b Bangar 0
A.Sanford lbw b Kumble 1
C.Cuffy run out 0
Extras (b-1 lb-4 nb-26 w-3) 34
Total (all out, 163.1 overs) 501
Fall: 1-20 2-37 3-44 4-157 5-450 6-454 7-494 8-494 9-499
Bowling: Srinath 33-8-91-3 (nb-3), Khan 32-9-97-2 (nb-14 w-1), Bangar 27-6-63-1 (w-1), Kumble 45.1-7-145-2 (nb-5), Ganguly 2-1-2-0 (nb-1), S.Singh 21-5-80-1 (nb-3), Tendulkar 3-0-18-0 (w-1).
India first innings
S.Das b Sanford 33
D.Dasgupta lbw b Cuffy 0
S.Ganguly c Nagamootoo b Dillon 5
S.Tendulkar lbw b Nagamootoo 79
R.Dravid not out 57
V.Laxman not out 46
Extras (b-4 lb-8 nb-3 w-2) 17
Total (for four wickets, 86.5 overs) 237
Fall: 1-6 2-21 3-99 4-144
To bat: S.Bangar, A.Kumble, J.Srinath, Z.Khan, S.Singh
Bowling (to date): Dillon 19.5-3-71-1, Cuffy 14-4-24-1 (w-2), Sanford 15-4-45-1 (nb-2), Nagamootoo 26-10-67-1 (nb-1), Hooper 8-3-11-0, Gayle 4-2-7-0.
