Ishant takes two on half-day

Regular showers and fading light allowed only 25.3 overs on the second day in Bridgetown, but there was enough time for Ishant Sharma to extend his domination of Ramnaresh Sarwan, and for Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to show discipline and prevent an impressive Praveen Kumar from inflicting even more telling blows. Ishant also removed the nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo before taking Sarwan out for a third time in 24 deliveries in this series.

Early-morning showers meant there was moisture in the pitch; the ball was only 12-overs old, and the bowlers fresh. It was always going to be a tough first session - shortened by 45 minutes - and it showed in how Ishant had both Sarwan and Bishoo edging through, and just over, a catching cordon that could have been more alert.

Sarwan's nick flew not too far over Suresh Raina's head at third slip, Bishoo's went not too far to the left of M Vijay at third slip, but neither man went for the catch. MS Dhoni provided for the second contingency by crowding the cordon so much there was no gap left between him and the gully. The bounce that Ishant extracted was too much for Bishoo, and soon enough he steered one straight to gully, ending the 23-run fourth-wicket partnership. Sarwan, not at all at ease with the bounce and the movement, found himself caught at the crease to a full inswinger two balls later, the second time he has been trapped by Ishant's inward movement.

With his accuracy and swing either way, Praveen was in the middle of an even better spell, beating both edges of the bat, making batsmen play regularly. That West Indies could still think of a first-innings lead was down to good defensive batting from Samuels and Chanderpaul, who batted 19.3 overs for just 41 runs. They both played as late as possible - if they had to - and even when Samuels edged Praveen once he did so with soft hands, just teasing the cordon.

Runs mainly come in nudges, deflections and no-balls (five of them), but Samuels was also alert to loose deliveries. There weren't too many of them on offer, but the two times he got short and wide deliveries, he cut them away from fours. One of them was the last ball before lunch, after which only 8.3 overs of play was possible.