Gayle knocks steady to take West Indies score to 81 at lunch

St John's, Antigua, June 3 (UNI) Opener Chris Gayle went on the rampage taking West Indies score to 81 for one at lunch on the second day of the first test being played against India here.

India struck early to take the wicket of Darren Ganga but Gayle negated all the early advantage with some savage shots that reminded more of a one-day game than seen in the longer version.

Sreesanth started the attack for India and bowled a good first over that tested Darren Ganga's off stump twice. Gayle survived a very close call for LBW off Munaf Patel in the second over of the West Indies innings. In typical Gayle style, the tall left-hander from Jamaica slashed hard at a wide delivery and saw the ball fly over slip cordon for the first four of the day.

But Munaf returned back the next over to trap Ganga plumb in front of the wicket for nine.

India were fielding without a thirdman and as many as three fours went past that boundary easing the pressure on the West Indies openers.

Gayle was in a punishing mood and fall of an early wicket didn't deter him. He cut Sreesanth for a boundary over slips and then hit Munaf on the on side boundary to keep the score board ticking. If that was not enough, he lofted Sreesanth straight over his head for a massive six in the seventh over. He hit two more boundaries in the same over to take the West Indies score past fifty in only ninth over of the innings.

Skipper Rahul Dravid had to take Sreesanth off attack and debutant VRV Singh was brought in. VRV was the fastest of Indian seamers but didn't taste any success. At lunch West Indies were 81 for one, Gayle was batting on 45 and Sarwan was not out on 19.

Earlier, India were bowled out for 241 in the first innings.

India added 6 runs from their overnight total of 235 for nine before Munaf Patel was cleaned up by Fidel Edwards. The last pair survived four anxious overs today. S Sreesanth did all the scoring and remained not out on 29.

A slight shower delayed the start of play on the second day by 15 minutes.

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