Chanderpaul’s gritty ton fuels Windies fight back

Chanderpaul kisses the ground after reaching his seventh test century against India.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Shivnarine Chanderpaul enhanced  his reputation as a nemesis for India with an unbeaten century  to power West Indies to 256 for five on the opening day of the  first test yesterday.
  
The 37-year-old left-hander with an unorthodox stance shone  in a 108-run fourth wicket stand with protege Kraigg Brathwaite  (63) to bail out the team that was reeling at 72-3 soon after  lunch.  
 
Chanderpaul was batting on 111 off 167 balls at stumps,  having hit seven fours and two sixes in what was his seventh  century against India and 24th overall.   

Chanderpaul kisses the ground after reaching his seventh test century against India.

Carlton Baugh was giving him company on 19 as West Indies  made a substantial recovery after the Indian spin duo of Pragyan  Ojha (3-58) and debutant Ravichandran Ashwin (2-79) had mauled  their top order.  

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy’s decision to bat first  appeared to have boomeranged as his counterpart Mahendra Singh  Dhoni exploited the visitors’ spin frailty.   

Ojha was brought into the attack in the 10th over and the  left-arm spinner did not let his captain down.   
Ojha dropped Kieran Powell (14) off his sixth delivery but  made amends when he returned to trap the batsman leg before in  his next over.   

Ashwin was pressed into service for a two-pronged spin  attack and Ojha struck again in the 24th over when the in-form  Kirk Edwards (15) drove forwards to give the spinner a return  catch.  
  
Ashwin forced a delivery through Darren Bravo’s (12) porous  defence in the first over after lunch for his maiden test wicket  before Brathwaite and Chanderpaul dug in.  
 
“He played really well, playing it his way which is very  patient. I think he did his job,” Chanderpaul told reporters of  teenager Brathwaite, who grew up idolising him.  
 
Ojha eventually ended Brathwaite’s 262-minute vigil by  getting him stumped soon after the tea break and Ashwin had  Marlon Samuels (15) caught behind.  
 
Dhoni’s role on both occasions made him the Indian stumper  with the highest number of test dismissals (200) against his  name.   
“The stumping was amazing. I deceived him with flight and I  really enjoyed the dismissal,” Ojha said.
  
“They were trying to bat with lot of discipline. They were  playing straight and with not too many fancy shots.”   
The spinner was full of admiration for Chanderpaul.   

“More than his stance, he brings a lot of experience. We had  a couple of half-chances while he was sweeping the ball. I  enjoyed bowling to the legend. Hopefully I’ll get him out  tomorrow.”  

Scoreboard
West Indies first innings:   
K Brathwaite st Dhoni b Ojha                                                     63   
K Powell lbw b Ojha                                                                       14   
K Edwards c & b Ojha                                                                   15  
D Bravo  b Ashwin                                                                        12  
S Chanderpaul not out                                                              111 
M Samuels c Dhoni b Ashwin                                                   15  
C Baugh not out                                                                             19   
(Extra: B-4, LB-2, NB-1)                                                            7   
Total (for 5 wickets, 91 overs)                                          256  
Fall of wickets: 1-25 2-45 3-72 4-180 5-200   
To bat: D Sammy, R Rampaul, F Edwards, D Bishoo.   
Bowling: I Sharma 18-4-58-0(nb-1), U Yadav 16-5-48-0, P Ojha  29-8-58-3, R Ashwin 25-3-79-2, V Sehwag 2-0-5-0, Y Singh  1-0-2-0.