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The Story of Day 5, India vs West Indies - Antigua test.This was the ground where Brain Lara scored his 375 runs, way back in 1993 and he came back in 2003 to regain his highest individual score in test cricket by any batsman, when Mathew Hayden got past his previous record. Not only Lara scored the first every quadruple century at this ground, he did it again against the same opposition - England. Antigua cricket ground had also seen the fastest century in test match cricket - off 56 balls by Vivian Richards and this is, or rather was the ground where highest fourth innings successful chase in test cricket was achieved - 418 by West Indies against Australia in 2002.
The reason I am using "past tense" for while mentioning Antigua cricket ground is that last night, was the last time a test match was played at this ground and what a test match it was. Day 5 of this India v West Indies match started with West Indies needing 379 off 90 overs and India needing all 10 wickets... the draw seemed the most probable outcome, but read on to get actual view of it. Or switch on to Tensports at 0830hrs india timmings for highlights. Let me also tell you that Tensports won't show the highlights of this Antigua test - Day 5 on 8th of June but they will do it again on 9th at 0130hrs in the monring... Morning session :- A confident start by West Indies openers - Chris Gayle and Deren Ganga. They negotiated first 21 over of this Day 5 quite easily and didn't really looked like getting out. In fact, very few balls from inexperienced seam bowlers from India were able to even beat them. Dravid went over to his last hope - Anil Kumble and took a deep breath. And made some prayers. And then came the first wicket - Ganga caught brilliantly by Yuvraj at forward short leg. Then came the second wicket - Sarwan caught at gully by Kumble off Sreesanth and then the third one - Brain Lara lbw to Sreesanth... When Indians were disappointed with the start of the day and West Indian openers looked at the dressing room, thinking that they have negotiated the first session very easily, those three wickets changed the things. At that point, everyone Indian had a pleasing lunch. I had my dinner..!! Afternoon Session :- Another confident start from West Indies. Chris Gayle was playing absolutely opposite to what he is k  nown for, blocking and leaving whenever he could and now was joined in by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who is known for his slow batting but this time he was doing opposite as well. He was driving and pulling the ball and at that point, made me think that West Indies want to chase the target. To tell you frankly, it wasn't impossible, seeing the records of the ground and its size. West Indies played a very good middle session, didn't loose a single wicket and scored exactly 100 runs.So at Tea time, West Indies were 160 for just three wickets. Indian team went into the dressing room, some caught the tea cups, some the water bottles and some went for prayers. And me......... well, I just flicked through the other channels to find something else more entertaining..!! Evening session :- Remember the test match at Nagpur between India and England not too long ago when India went after the target when they were first trying to save the match .... here's the score card if you have forgotten but I am sure West Indies had learnt their lesson from it. They came out after Tea and went after the target. First over was bowled by Sehwag, second by Munaf and third by Kumble. And that third over saw a four and a six from Gayle which went out of the Antigua cricket ground. Even if it was Day 5 wicket of a test match, Antigua pitch has been known to get better as days go on and situation looked very similar to that. Then.... In came the 5th ball of that over from Kumble, who switched from round the wicket to over the wicket and Gayle was caught right in front of the wicket and was given lbw out by umpire Simon Taufel for not playing a shot. The Antigua crowd booed, some abused and some drop their heads but Indians started jumping with joy. The needed 7 wickets in the last session and the first one has co  me...West Indies still looked like going for victory as Dwayne Bravo and Chanderpaul scored freely for next 7 overs. Then came the wrong decision from umpire Simon Taufel who gave chanderpaul out - caught at slip when he had missed the ball. Antigua crowd again booed but India had got the 5th wicket. Suddenly, Indian fielders started to taunt West Indian batsmen, specially Mohammad Kaif and bowler Munaf Patel and that paid rich devident as Bravo edged one to Dhoni off Sehwag. In fact, Sehwag had started to bowl like a true off-spinner - spinning and driffting the ball and that made him get the 7th wicket - Ramdin caught at slip by Dravid. Still 20 overs were remaining in the days play and India looked like cruising to victory. Ian Bradshaw was not joined in by Dave Mohammed and West Indians looked like mixing attack and defence very nicely. 5 more overs went by, Dave Mohammad played some good and some ugly shots but most importantly, didn't lose his wicket. Then... The drinks interval. Umpires showed their watch, which means that last hour of play has started. Indian team had to get the last three wickets in those 60 minutes and they had 15 overs to do it. Dravid opted for the new ball. Let me write the countdown for you... 15th - No wicket for Munaf. 14th - No wicket for Sreesanth. 13th - No wicket for Munaf. 12th - No wicket for Sreesanth. 11th - WICKET FOR MUNAF - off the second ball and another controversial decision. The bat of Ian Bradshaw hit his pads and no body knows whether it touched the ball or not. Every Indian appealed and Umpire Asad Rauf said yes.. Now it was down to last 10 overs and West Indians had 2 wickets remaining.. 10th - No wicket for Kumble. 9th - No wicket for Munaf... but I must add here that Dave Mohammad was still playing in his attacking mood. He had hit 9 fours and completed his half century. He always looked like getting out but not quite. 8th - No wicket for Kumble. 7th - No wicket for VRV Singh. 6th - Stumping missed by Dhoni and a tough catch dropped by Dravid. Still no wicket for Kumble. 5th - No wicket for VRV Singh. 4th - Four dot balls and then Kumble flight one over the eyes of Dave Mohammad. He wanted hit it out of the ground but got bowled. WICKET FOR KUMBLE. 3rd - No wicket for Sreesanth. 2nd - No wicket for Kumble. Last over - India needed one wicket and Dravid selected Sreesanth for the job.  1st ball - blocked by Corey Collymore. 2nd ball - bouncer. Collymore down on the ground but still not out. 3rd - blocked by Collymore. 4th - too wide from Sreesanth. 5th - blocked by Collymore. 6th.......... not bowled by Sreesanth. There was so much tension and pressure that Sreesanth decided not to bowl that ultimate ball but when he finally did, it hit Collymore's pads but was not hitting the stumps... So in this way, Indian team, after giving away a lead of 130 runs and chasing the game for the first 2 and half days, came back strongly but couldn't quite win it. A DRAW TEST MATCH. Related ArticlesCricket
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