Sammy aims to break hearts

MUMBAI—West Indies captain Darren Sammy intends to make Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar fight for his 100th International century with two days remaining in the third and final Test.Tendulkar was unbeaten on 67 as India made a strong reply to reach 281 for three after West Indies had amassed 590 all out in their first innings. “What I foresee is a full house tomorrow with the master (Sachin) on 60-70 odd. But with that we may have quite a few broken hearts tomorrow. He is about to cross a massive landmark, a hundredth hundred. But also we have an opportunity to break a few hearts,” Sammy said.

Sammy said the team had worked on a plan to restrict the 38-year-old, who had at one stage raced to 38 in 57 balls. “We have our game plan, our bowling to a field. I did my job and other bowlers did theirs. We had an opportunity to get him out but unfortunately we couldn’t.” With India still trailing by 309 runs, Sammy sensed an opportunity to go for a win on a wicket, which has attracted criticism for having nothing for the bowlers.

Sammy felt that a lead of anything over 150 would be good. “If we get a few wickets, there is still a lot of time left. If we have a 200-150-run lead, we could come back to bat and look to set a target. It depends on how quickly we get the wickets.” On his duel with Virender Sehwag, whom he dismissed for the third time in as many innings, the 27-year-old St. Lucian felt the Delhi batsman’s aggressive nature gave him an opportunity to take his wicket. “I am not as quick as Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul. After the first Test, it looks like Sehwag wants to get me out of the attack. I don’t mind him playing a few shots. That’s how he has played all his career and bashed a few.” Sammy, who had taken 57 Test wickets in 20 matches prior to this match, added that the opposition batsmen’s mistake of underestimating him makes his job easier.

SCORECARD

India vs West Indies 

West Indies 1st Inns (o/n 575-9)

A Barath c Dhoni b Ashwin 62

K Brathwaite c Kohli b Ashwin 68

K Edwards c Dhoni b Sharma 86

D Bravo c Dhoni b Aaron 166

K Powell c Dhoni b Ojha 81

M Samuels c Dravid b Ashwin 61

Carlton Baugh b Aaron 4

D Sammy c Dhoni b Aaron 3

R Rampaul c Kohli b Ashwin 10

Fidel Edwards not out 11

Devendra Bishoo b Ashwin 12

Extras: (8b, 16lb, 2nb) 26

TOTAL: (184.1 overs) 590

Fall of wickets: 1-137, 2-150, 3-314, 4-474, 5-518, 6-524, 7-540, 8-563, 9-566.

Bowling: Sharma 32-9-84-1 (1nb), Aaron 28-4-106-3, Ojha 48-10-126-1, Ashwin 52.1-6-156-5, Sehwag 16-1-61-0 (1nb), Kohli 2-0-9-0, Tendulkar 6-0-24-0.

India 1st Inns

G Gambhir c Baugh b Rampaul 55

Virender Sehwag b Sammy 37

Rahul Dravid b Samuels 82

Sachin Tendulkar not out 67

V.V.S. Laxman not out 32

Extras: (1b, 4nb, 3w) 8

TOTAL: (for 3 wkts 80 overs) 281

Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-138, 3-224.

Bowling: Edwards 15-0-70-0 (4nb), Rampaul 12-1-42-1 (1w), Sammy 22-3-67-1 (2w), Samuels 11-0-48-1, Bishoo 20-4-53-0.

Toss: West Indies

Umpires: Tony Hill, New Zealand, and Bruce Oxenford, Australia.