Batting blues continue for Men in Blue, 235 for nine on day one

St John's, Antigua, June 3 (UNI) On a track traditionally renowned as a bowlers' graveyard, it was the Indian batsmen who found themselves in a deep hole as they crawled to 235 for nine in an abject surrender before a disciplined West Indies attack on day one of the first Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground here.

Dwayne Bravo (4-37) and Corey Collymore (3-27) ran through the Indian innings and despite six Indian batsmen reaching the 20s, none of them could convert the start and a gritty Rahul Dravid top-scored with a painstaking knock of 49.

India could have been in a worse situation but for the 47-run eighth wicket stand between Anil Kumble and S Sreesanth, with the later promising to be a useful lower order bat.

The visitors sprang a surprise by leaving out Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh and opting for a three-pronged pace attack with the trio of Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and VRV Singh who have played just four Tests among them.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, India began on a disastrous note on a pitch that was offering good bounce and carry.

Wasim Jaffer (1) and Virender Sehwag (36) were out in the first hour of play and Dwayne Bravo struck just before lunch snaring VVS Laxman (29) and India were reduced to 74 for three at lunch.

Jaffer who was nicely done in by Fidel Edwards in the third over of the day. Edwards started with bowling a couple of deliveries on the leg side. He then followed it up with a short one that looked like going down the leg but instead shaped up and carried a thin nick to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin to remove Jaffer.

Sehwag looked comfortable on a pitch where ball was coming nicely on to bat. He twice played Collymore to the leg side boundary. But just when he looked set to play a long innings, Sehwag threw away his wicket, playing at an away-going delivery from Collymore and managing an edge to first slip to Brian Lara for a comfortable catch.

Sehwag played a typical 36-run knock off 37 balls and India were 51 for two then.

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