JOIN USEver-reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck an unbeaten 91 and shared an unbroken 170- run stand with Narsing Deonarine (83) as the West Indies reached a solid 333 for four against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of their practice match, here on Thursday.
It was a good batting show by the visitors ahead of the Test series against India as four batsmen from the Caribbean side scored half-centuries.
Chanderpaul and Deonarine will resume their fifth-wicket partnership on Friday.
After Chris Gayle’s failure, Kieran Powell (64) and Darren Bravo (61) built the innings with a 112-run second-wicket partnership but the Piyush Chawla-led UP side had a two-wicket burst to leave the visitors at 149/3 at the midway stage.
But Chanderpaul, who is eyeing a milestone 150th Test in Mumbai, once again proved to be the thorn in the flesh as he initially looked rock solid with his defence before taking on the UP bowlers. He hit 11 fours and two sixes.
There was some excitement in the air after Darren Sammy opted to bat to have the first feel of the conditions but Gayle’s was a subdued knock that lasted only 25 balls. He was beaten by an Imtiaz Ahmed in-swinger that stayed low before skidding onto his stumps.
The UP medium-pacer, who came in as the first change, got rid of the explosive opener in a fine first spell of four overs that had three maidens and the prized scalp.
The day’s proceedings began an hour late because of the dew factor as it was an early lunch with the Windies 37/1 in 14 overs.
The UP bowlers extracted good swing while it stayed low sometimes as the Windies had a tentative start to their innings in the first session.
But as the day progressed, the wicket became easy to bat on while the luck too helped the visitors as Bravo was dropped shortly after lunch by Ankit Rajput at mid-off off Chawla.
Bravo went on to make a half-century from 63 balls in a brisk knock, while Powell took his time as he too completed 50 in the second-wicket partnership.
Brief scores: West Indians: 333/4 in 79 overs (Kieran Powell 64, Darren Bravo 61, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 91 batting, Narsing Deonarine 83 batting; Imtiaz Ahmed 2-68).