Barbados, June 30: Ishant Sharma was the highlight of another day of rain-affected play at the Kensigton Oval. Back in the side in conditions that suit pace bowling, Ishant Sharma made the most of the opportunities that came his way. Along with his pace partner Praveen Kumar, he continued to trouble the West Indies batsmen bagging three wickets in the post-lunch session. With his first wicket of the day, Darren Sammy, he took his tally in this innings to six wickets and reached a personal milestone of 100 wickets in Tests becoming the fourth-youngest player to do so.

After surviving a very short first session that lasted just 19.3 overs after a rain delayed start, West Indies managed to reach 190 runs in their first innings.

The first session saw the back of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (37 runs) castled by Abhinav Mukund. The 77-run partnership between Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels brought West Indies within sniffing distance of India’s first innings total. After the departure of his partner, Samuels stood firm on an unbeaten on 78 as wickets fell at the other end. As is usually the case, the breaking of a set partnership triggered a batting collapse. With Harbhajan Singh sending back Carlton Baugh, Ishant Sharma wrapped up the tail with the wickets Sammy, Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards and gave India a 11-run lead in the first innings.

Again, as rain hampered the day’s play, India could add only 23 runs to their total in 5.4 overs. When play was called off on the second consecutive day due to bad weather, India were leading by 34 runs with all wickets intact.

Brief Score (At the end of Day-3): India 1st Innings 201 all out in 68 overs (VVS Laxman 85, Suresh Raina 53, R Rampaul 3/38, D Bishoo 3/46, Fidel Edwards 3/56), 2nd Innings 23/0 in 5.4 overs ; West Indies 1st Innnings 190 all out in 73.5 overs ( Marlon Samuels 78*, S Chanderpaul 37, Ishant Sharma 6/55).