India hope to solve Chanderpaul puzzle

St. John's (Antigua), May 15: India skipper Sourav Ganguly conceded Tuesday West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul had been troubling his team the most in the ongoing Test series.

"I think he just loves batting against India," said Ganguly after the drawn fourth Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground here.

The left-handed Guyanese slammed an unbeaten 136 for his third century against Ganguly's Indians in four Tests, also completing 400 runs in the process.

Chanderpaul, 27, began the series on a highly impressive note as he smashed a career-best 140 in the drawn opening Test at Georgetown last month, sharing a record 293-run stand for the fifth wicket with skipper Carl Hooper.

His rare failure came in the first innings of the second Test at Port-of-Spain when he fell for one, but made amends with an unbeaten 67 in the second innings and 101 not out in the third match at Bridgetown.

"Four of his five Test hundreds have been against India," said Ganguly. "We're trying to do something to stop him. We tried in this game, but the pitch didn't have enough bounce.

"Obviously, we need little bit of help from the wicket to make that happen. We'll try again in the next Test. He's in good form, but anything can happen," he said of Chanderpaul, who also hit 137 not out against India in 1997 at Bridgetown.

Ganguly said his team could have put pressure on the West Indies had they not missed the services of leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who returned home on Monday for treatment after suffering a jaw-injury while batting.

"We could have made a match of it had Kumble been around. I never expected the pitch to break like this," he said.

The West Indies posted 629-9 declared in their first innings in reply to the tourists' 513-9 declared in a tall-scoring Test.

Kumble bowled just 14 overs on Sunday, trapping batting star Brian Lara leg-before for four to return an impressive 1-29.

The Indian skipper was all praise for man-of-the-match Ajay Ratra and opener Wasim Jaffer.

The 20-year-old Ratra had made just 16 in his previous three innings before becoming the first Indian specialist wicket-keeper to score a Test century on foreign soil with an unbeaten 115, while Jaffer cracked a career-best 86.

"Ratra showed a lot of character," said Ganguly. "He was under a lot of pressure in this match because he didn't have good Test in Trinidad and Barbados. I hope he performs consistently. It'll be good for Indian cricket."

Ganguly said Jaffer was a quality batsman who always had a lot of time to play fast bowling.

"He's a quality player," said Ganguly. "He has a lot of time to play his strokes, which is a sign of a good opener. It's up to him how he handles the situation in the last Test. I hope he keeps performing for the team."

The Indian captain said his team would have to play really well to win the last Test and series.

The five-match series is presently tied 1-1.

"That's the Test of the series," said Ganguly." We've got three days' rest before firing on all cylinders. If we win, we'll really think that we've done well in the West Indies."