West Indies v India - Official Third Test Match Thread

[adamberry]

The third Test between the Windies and India is due to start tomorrow.

However, the build up to the match has been marred due to threats of "industrial action" by West Indian players. It turns out that the long-running contracts saga is still ongoing. No tour/match contracts have been signed, meaning if a player was injured they'd be entitled to no money from the WICB. More information here.

All this threatens to overshadow what should be a good contest. After securing a draw on the last day in St Lucia a week ago, Lara's side would surely like to force India onto the back foot, swinging the balance of the series. The contract issue is likely to be in the player's minds though, so would this have an adverse effect on their performance?

India, however, will look to capitalise on their dominance in the series so far, by completely outplaying the Windies. Rahul Dravid must surely want to begin his second decade in Test cricket with a big score, I'm sure we wait with baited breath to see what happens!

[batoutofhell]

Bad news already 2 days of heavy showering in st kitts and much heavier rain expected in coming days at st kitts
so its going to be another rain afftected draw match i guess
windies are going to be lucky once again becaue of nature's help

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by batoutofhell

so its going to be another rain afftected draw match i guess

From the only weather reports I have found for the West Indies region it forecasts rain for at least the next three days (does not go further than the next three days).

Originally Posted by batoutofhell

windies are going to be lucky once again becaue of nature's help

I don't disagree that the West Indies might get a lucky result but I think things would be a little closer if certain aspects of the West Indian side were looked at: On a pitch which gave plenty of assistance to the spin bowlers the selectors totally ignored Dave Mohammed in the last test; it makes it even worse that for this match he's not even in the squad! Instead Chris Gayle will be relied upon to bowl plenty of his flat delivers; that is fine if the pace department is firing but the selectors have ignored Lara's pleas for a genuine pace bowler. This means that, once again, the West Indies will go into a test match with a bunch of fast medium bowlers who will be so samey that the lack of variation will prove costly.

You'd expect Virender Sehwag, if he gets the chance, to make plenty of runs in this match.

I believe the contract row has been sorted and I don't think it really should affect things too much.

Originally Posted by Brian Lara

I think it's been done at the office level ... I feel the guys are very buoyant and they're looking forward to the Test match.

Hopefully this will not prey on their minds too much, they still have a job to do.

Just to add to the Windies troubles: Dwayne Bravo could miss the match as well.

Originally Posted by cricinfo

Dwayne Bravo, who missed the practice session today because of viral fever.

[Vrock]

A very good start from the Windies, batting first on a typical West Indian pitch and no breakthroughs made as of yet for India and 99 runs to the good.

Harbhajan has returned to the fold, although when all other bowlers are going at around 2-3 runs per over he's gone for 7 an over.

[Django]

Indians have performed very well in the previous two test matches. However their bowling attack lacks penetration and looks ordinary. This must be an area of concern for the captain and the coach. Unless the bowling improves, it is very hard to imagine that India will win this test match or this series, for that matter. I am not sure why Harbhajan has been selected in the final 11. He is short of match practice and in any case, his figures outside India are not worth mentioning.

[batoutofhell]

Originally Posted by Django

Indians have performed very well in the previous two test matches. However their bowling attack lacks penetration and looks ordinary. This must be an area of concern for the captain and the coach. Unless the bowling improves, it is very hard to imagine that India will win this test match or this series, for that matter. I am not sure why Harbhajan has been selected in the final 11. He is short of match practice and in any case, his figures outside India are not worth mentioning.

Fully agreeing with you django
they should have persisted with pathan now the indian team lacks 3rd seamer(virtually all the part timers are spinners for india)
i never believed harbhajan doing great in foreign soil(for that matter even in sub continent pitches off-late he is very lack lustre)still the commentators and some of the ex-cricketrs from india raves about harbhajan and critisizing dravid and chapple for not having him in the first 2 test matches
Its becoming very irritating to hear ravi shastri or harsha bhogle saying vvs laxman has got safe pair of hands in slips(in actual he is the one player who drops atleast 2 to 3 dolly catches per innings)similarly the harbhajan tantrums
only munaf and kumble re bowling with some sort of effect on the batsmen rest (only 2 )looks pathetic (the leats word to say)

[Vrock]

I agree with what both of you have said; certainly Harbhajan has been ineffective and the reasons, other than not being great away from home, certainly must be due to lack of match practice.

It does seem strange that since Sehwag has caused so many problems in the first two tests, certainly closer to Kumble than Harbhajan has been, he has only bowled so few overs and Harbhajan was chosen to play when Sehwag has shown he is capable.

West Indies going nicely, with only Chris Gayle out and Daren Ganga making some runs for once things look good.

[Vrock]

The runs have flown off the bat this morning.

Daren Ganga has reached a century and Ramanresh Sarwan rocketed to 99 in one over after starting at 75.

He hit six consecutive boundaries (one no ball) off Munaf Patel, all of the deliveries were short and wide so only the bowler has himself to blame.

306-1.

[Vrock]

Munaf Patel has all three wickets for the Indians so far, once Daren Ganga fell after playing the ball onto his own stumps Patel got Lara LBW for only 10 runs.

Three wickets down now but Sarwan is still at the crease, a double hundred would be perfect from him.

[adamberry]

Sarwan fell to a good ball from Sreesanth on 116, as the Windies racked up 420/5 by tea. Unfortunately it started raining during tea, and it looks unlikely that there'll be any more play today.

Originally Posted by cricinfo

The rain was so heavy that a few distinct puddles have started forming in the outfield.