Gayle lights up gloomy day, Windies reach 207 for one

Basseterre, St Kitts, June 23 (UNI) Chris Gayle's 83 laid the foundation for the West Indies as they piled up 207 for the loss of one wicket on the rain-delayed first day of the third Test against India here.

It was hard work for the Indian bowlers as Gayle's innings -- studded with five sixes and eight fours -- lit up a gloomy day after play had to be delayed for over two hours due to rain.

Daren Ganga (64) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (44) were batting when the stumps were drawn for the day.

Indian bowlers were left gasping for breath as Gayle went on a rampage after West Indies skipper Brian Lara won the toss and elected to bat first.

India opted for two seamers and two spinners, bringing in S Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh for VRV Singh and Irfan Pathan.

Munaf Patel and Sreesanth opened the attack for India. Munaf bowled a tight off-stump line and also derived movement off the pitch but Sreesanth was off target from the very beginning and struggled to bowl on one side of the stumps.

This worked to the advantage of Gayle who was unstoppable when Sreesanth bowled. After initial caution Gayle took the Indian youngster to task hitting him for a straight four and a huge six over long on.

Gayle was extremely severe on Sreesanth in the first Test also when he hit the Kerala seamer all around the park.

Rain stopped play after the initial eight overs with West Indies on 17 for no lossonly to resume after 25 minutes stoppage.

Dravid replaced Munaf with Kumble after he completed seven overs without any success. Gayle continued to pile on Sreesanth's agony by hitting him over backward point boundary for a flat six.

MORE UNI XC PM GC1005