India struggling as West Indies apply pressure

Kingston (Jamaica), May 19: Sachin Tendulkar fell for 41 as India finished the second day of the deciding fifth Test on Sunday on 141 for four in reply to the West Indies first innings of 422.

The 29-year-old Tendulkar, who had scores of 0, 0, 8 and 0 in his last four innings, looked to be bouncing back as he dispatched the pace quartet of Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Adam Sanford and Pedro Collins to all corners of Sabina Park.

But he was dismissed by Sanford when he got an inside edge to a slower delivery, dragging it on to his stumps as India slumped to 84 for three.

Cuffy struck soon after, having opener Shiv Sundar Das adjudged lbw for 33 by umpire Russell Tiffin to peg India further back to 86 for four. Television replays suggested Das might have been unlucky as the ball looked to be drifting down leg-side.

Captain Sourav Ganguly was steadying the innings on 22 at the close with Vangipurappu Laxman, who cracked 130 in the drawn fourth Test in Antigua last week, on 27.

India had won the second Test at Trinidad by 37 runs before West Indies hit back with a 10-wicket win at Barbados to level the series 1-1.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh earlier took five wickets for 138 to restrict West Indies after Ridley Jacobs and Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck breezy half-centuries.

It was the 21-year-old Singh's eighth five-wicket haul and the first overseas in his 25th Test. The bowler from the northern state of Punjab reached 100 Test wickets when he took his first wicket of the innings.

West Indies resumed on their overnight 287 for four but Carl Hooper departed early, caught for 17 by Dravid running back from first slip, when he failed to get his bat out of the way of a rising ball from Javagal Srinath.

It was only the second time this series that the 35-year-old, who had scores of 233, 50, 22, 115 and 136 coming into this match, has failed to pass 50. He now has an aggregate of 573 runs at an average of 95.5.

Chanderpaul reached 503 runs for the series with his 58, which came off 148 balls and included seven boundaries.

He shared in a 109-run stand for the sixth wicket with fellow left-hander Jacobs, who smashed a brisk 59 that featured two big sixes.

Singh started the slide, bowling Jacobs with a delivery that kept low and then trapped Dillon lbw for no score.

Srinath had Chanderpaul caught behind before Singh took his fifth wicket holding on to a skier at mid-on off his own bowling to dismiss Sanford for one.

Dillon struck the first two blows as India started their reply disastrously.

The Trinidadian first had Wasim Jaffer out for a duck, edging an outswinger to wicketkeeper Jacobs, and then had Dravid lbw with a ball that kept low after pitching outside off-stump.

Tendulkar came out firing, pulling Cuffy to the mid-wicket fence for four and driving Dillon for two straight fours.

The Bombay batsman, who had scored 117 at Trinidad to equal Australian Don Bradman's 29 Test centuries, then cut Dillon between slip and gully for a boundary and gloriously drove Sanford through the covers.

Das, who has a top-score of 35 in a forgettable series for him, joined in, cutting left-arm medium-pacer Pedro Collins for two boundaries as the duo raised 69 for the third wicket.

Opener Wavell Hinds had cracked 113 to lead the West Indies charge on Saturday.