Gayle (83) blasts Windies to 207 for one

The left-handed Gayle smashed eight fours and five sixes and helped West Indies to a satisfying close of play position of 207 for one after they won the toss in the historic first Test match on the ground.

Gayle was helped significantly in an opening stand of 143 with Daren Ganga, who batted through the truncated day for a solid unbeaten 64.

Ramnaresh Sarwan overcame a string of low scores to end the day unbeaten on 44 in an unfinished second wicket stand of 64 with Ganga.

After the start of play was delayed until 12:30 pm because of wet conditions caused by early morning rain, Gayle and Ganga went about their business in an assured manner following West Indies’ luck of the toss of an easy-paced pitch.

It was a measured approach from Gayle, whose aggression has been mixed with responsible batting.

His first two sixes were off pacer Shantha Sreesanth and the other three were off off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Sreesnath, recalled after missing the second Test because of injury, was lifted over long-on and cut over backward point, while Harbhajan, playing his first match of the series, was hit for two sixes over long-on and the other over long-off.

Gayle eventually fell half-hour after tea when he was bowled by fast bowler Munaf Patel as he shouldered arms to a ball that cut into him after batting for just over two and a half hours.

Sarwan filled the breach and was immediately off the mark with a fine deflection for four and quickly added another boundary off his pads through mid-wicket off Patel.

All the while, Ganga was playing soundly and reached his half-century after spending a long time in the 40s.

By the close, Ganga, whose previous highest score in the series was 36, had been batting for 256 minutes, faced 186 balls and struck six fours.

Sarwan, whose last three innings brought him only two runs, had been at the wicket for 100 minutes, while hitting eight boundaries off 79 balls.

With the loss of the first session and a further 25 minutes in the pre-tea period, the day’s play was limited to 64 overs.

West Indies made one change from the side that played in the drawn second Test at Beausejour Stadium, with batsman Marlon Samuels replacing all-rounder Ian Bradshaw.

India made two changes. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer Shantha Sreesanth came in for left-arm fast bowler Irfan Pathan and right-arm pacer Vikram Singh.

The second day’s play will start half-hour earlier at 9.30 am today.