Daily Cricket News

West Indies and India draw second test

BRIDGETOWN,  - Darren Bravo scored an unbeaten 45 for West Indies to stall India's push for an unlikely series-clinching win in the second test in Barbados on Saturday after the tourists made a bold declaration on the fifth and final day.

India, 1-0 up in the three-match series after winning the opening test in Jamaica, declared their second innings closed at 269-6 more than an hour before lunch, setting West Indies a formidable, but not impossible, target of 281 in two-and-a-half sessions to win.

Any real thoughts the West Indians had of chasing down the runs and squaring the series soon gave way to survival when they lost Lendl Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan cheaply.

They lost a third wicket after lunch when Adrian Barath fell for 27 but Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul guided the home side through to tea without any further casualties at 108-3.

That left West Indies still 173 runs away from a near-impossible run-chase and India requiring seven wickets in the last session to win, raising the likelihood of a draw.

India had cause for some hope when they captured two quick wickets. Simmons departed in the fourth over after making a quickfire 14 off 12 balls, featuring three boundaries, when he edged fast bowler Ishant Sharma to Rahul Dravid in the slips cordon.

Then Sarwan, who has scored just 29 runs in the series, made another early exit for eight when he fended a short-pitched delivery from Praveen Kumar to Suresh Raina at third slip.

Barath struck three fours and a six before he gave Sharma his second wicket of the innings and eighth of the match, leaving Bravo and Chanderpaul facing the prospect of needing to bat for a long period to salvage a draw from a match that was heavily interrupted by rain delays on the preceding days.

India resumed on 229 for three and added just 40 runs for the loss of three wickets when captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni called his players in on a lively Kensington Oval pitch still offering plenty of pace and bounce

For the second time in the match Vangipurappu Laxman fell short of a century, departing for 87 after making 85 in the first innings.

Laxman had batted patiently to get within reach of a hundred when he got a thick edge to a short ball from Fidel Edwards outside off stump and deflected it to Darren Sammy at second slip.

Edwards captured all three wickets to fall in the session to finish with five for 76, his ninth five-wicket haul in tests.

Virat Kohli was also caught by Sammy at second slip for 27 while Dhoni spooned a catch to Chanderpaul at mid-off for five.