West Indies in Bangladesh: Chanderpaul, Powell shine on first day

By Saqibul Islam

MIRPUR, Bangladesh (TheSportsNEXT) November 13, 2012: West Indies started their Bangladesh tour in an impressive manner on Tuesday when they reached a total of 361 for four on Day 1 of the first Test at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul and opener Kieran Powell were the stars for West Indies on inaugural day of the series as Bangladeshi bowlers failed to pounce on the spinners-friendly conditions and offered too many boundary balls to the visitors.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and he had no hesitation in choosing to bat first on a first-day pitch at Shere Bangla National Stadium which is due to offer bite and purchase to the finger and wrist spinners in the later stages of the Test match.

The explosive West Indian opening batsman Chris Gayle started the day with a flurry of boundaries, thus setting the tone, as he raced to 24 runs from 17 balls hitting two boundaries and as many maximums but his onslaught was halted when debutant off-spinner Shohag Gazi got him caught off Mahmudullah to grab his first wicket in Test career.

During his brief stay at the wicket, Chris Gayle became only the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to hit the first ball of a Test match for a six.

Darren Bravo (14 from 28 – 3 fours) and Marlon Samuels (16 from 41 – 3 fours) also fell cheaply as West Indies were reduced to three down for 106 runs.

However, opening batsman Kieran Powell kept his cool on the other end as he shared a 125-run stand with experienced batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul as he scored his second Test hundred before becoming third victim of the debutant Shohag Gazi for 117 runs from 178 balls with the help of 18 boundaries and a huge six.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued his good work with the bat as he hit his 26^th Test century and was unbeaten at the crease with wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin (52 not out from 88 – 5 fours) as the duo added 130 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket partnership when umpires called it stumps on Day 1.

The only positive for the home side was performance of the debutant Shohag Gazi who captured three of the four dismissals while all of the other bowlers were pretty ordinary as they kept on offering loose deliveries all day long.