Dominica, July 6: Rain halted the progress of the first day’s play of the third and final Test between West Indies and India as the Windsor Park in Roseau made its Test debut. This after the Indian pacers had seized the initial advantage by taking three top-order West Indies wickets.

MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl first, a decision informed by the moisture in the wicket. A fit Munaf Patel replaced Abhimanyu Mithun in the Indian playing eleven while Kirk Edwards and Kieran Powell made their respective debuts for the West Indies.

A familiar plight unfolded itself as the West Indies began their first innings. Kieran Powell (3) edged a delivery from Praveen Kumar to VVS Laxman, standing at first slip, to give India their first breakthrough of the morning in just the ninth over. Ishant Sharma then added to his 16-wicket haul in this Test series when he dismissed Adrian Barath (12) and Kirk Edwards (6) in the 13th and 17th overs respectively. Within the first 90 minutes of the day’s play, the hosts were threatening to implode with the score at 35 for the loss of three wickets.

However, Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, now the most capped West Indies player, denied India any further inroads. At lunch, the West Indies score read 64 for three. With just 3.1 overs having been bowled after lunch, rain brought the day’s proceedings to a halt. The hosts were 75 for three when play on Day 1 was called off.

Brief scores: West Indies 1st innings 75/3in 31.1 overs(Darren Bravo 22*, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 17*, Ishant Sharma 2/23)