Test: India in comfortable position
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Scorecard
St Lucia, June 11: Virender Sehwag struck a superb century while skipper Rahul Dravid came up with a composed unbeaten knock of 95 as India cruised to a comfortable position at the end of the first day's play of the second cricket Test against the West Indies here.
Yesterday, Sehwag unleashed an array of his trademark strokes to nicely execute his plan of controlled aggression and notch up a racy 180 from 190 balls.
Dravid proved to be the perfect foil to the Delhi dasher and was instrumental in taking the tourists to a solid platform to launch an assault on the home team.
At stumps on day one, India were 361 for 4 with their skipper on the verge of another hundred along with Mohammad Kaif (18 not out). At the Beausejour stadium, left-arm seamer Pedro Collins reopened a few old scars to claim all the four wickets that fell on the day. The morning session belonged to Sehwag who slammed 20 fours and two sixes to outwit the West Indian pace battery. However, during his express run scoring spree, he missed out on a record of scoring a hundred before lunch on the opening day of a Test.
But he reached his 12th Test century and second against the West Indies in the post-lunch session. Interestingly, the right hander's last eight tons have been 150-plus scores, beginning with the 195 he hit in Melbourne against Australia in 2003-04. The 159-run opening stand of Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer gave India a rocking start. Later, Sehwag again teamed up with Dravid for the fourth wicket to add another 139 runs.
Dravid has so far faced 158 balls and hit 12 boundaries. Collins picked nine wickets in three Tests against the Indians on their previous visit to the Caribbean in 2002 and also set up the series-clinching Test win for his team at Kingston on that tour. Today, he bowled the same teasing line and the Indians seemed intent on obliging him all over again. Jaffer, double centurion in the first Test, played the supporting role to perfection before fending at an away delivery from Collins to be caught at slip for 43.
V V S Laxman, who shone in the 2002 series, flashed at a wide delivery to be out for a 10-ball duck. Collins, who was named in the squad only because his half-brother Fidel Edwards was injured, then had his prized scalp of Sehwag by squaring up with a short delivery. Yuvraj Singh played all over an incoming delivery to be bowled for two from 16 balls. Sehwag took the drinks break in the morning session at 65 runs from 38 balls and looked in course to push Viv Richards' fastest century record of 56 ball off the record books.
He missed it but looked almost certain to overtake Kapil Dev and Mohammed Azharuddin as the two Indian who took the least 74 number of balls to reach a Test century. (Agencies)
