NEW DELHI (AP) — Experienced batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit an authoritative century Sunday to help the West Indies reach 256-5 against India on the opening day of the first test at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.
Left-hander Chanderpaul struck 111 not out and put on a solid 108-run stand for the fourth wicket with Kraigg Brathwaite (63) that pulled the West Indies out of trouble from a precarious 72-3.
Chanderpaul smashed seven fours and two sixes during his 24th test century to douse the enthusiasm of an inexperienced bowling attack that called the shots through spinners Pragyan Ojha and debutant Ravichandran Ashwin before the fourth-wicket stand.
Ojha finished the day at 3-58 and Ashwin at 2-79.
Chanderpaul enhanced his already impressive record against India by scoring his seventh century against the team and the second in consecutive tests after also getting one in their last game in Dominica in the Caribbean in June this year.
Chanderpaul showed nimble footwork during his 167-ball knock, hitting both of India's specialist spinners for a six each over the long-on fence.
"The wicket was pretty good and so I wanted to bat aggressively rather than being patient," Chanderpaul said. "Ojha and Ashwin bowled well even though there was not much help in the wicket."
Chanderpaul said Braithwaite was unlucky to get out.
"He was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred after crossing fifty for the second time. He was playing according to his own gameplan," Chanderpaul said.
The 37-year-old dominated the stand with teenager Brathwaite, who compiled his painstaking 63 off 212 balls with only four hits to the fence. It was the second half-century in four tests for Brathwaite, who will turn 19 next month.
Braithwaite was Ojha's third victim when he was stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in trying to reach a flighted delivery pitched outside the off stump.
Earlier, Ojha struck twice in the opening session and Ashwin took a wicket in the first over after lunch, pegging back a West Indies side that won the toss and elected to bat.
Ojha, who was introduced into the attack in the 10th over of the innings, dismissed opener Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards to help India take the early advantage.
Ojha trapped Powell (14) lbw with a ball that turned in sharply to rap his pads. In his previous over, the left-arm spinner dropped a return catch opportunity from Powell.
Ojha made no such mistake when Edwards (15) offered a return catch when trying to drive down the ground, and finished the session with 2-14 in 10 overs.
"Playing a test for India exactly after one year, I was really looking forward to it," Ojha said. "When I was out, seniors advised me to play county cricket as a professional and that helped me."
Ojha, who played for Surrey last season, said he was happy with the way he bowled.
"There was not much help in the wicket. Chanderpaul played a great innings. For me, the wicket of Braithwaite gave pleasure because I beat him in flight," Ojha added.
Ashwin took the important wicket of Darren Bravo (12) when the left-hander shaped for a cut shot. Bravo, who had struck 195 in the second test against Bangladesh in Mirpur last week, played too close to the body and was clean bowled.
Ashwin also dismissed experienced batsman Marlon Samuels in the third session by inducing an edge that was collected neatly by Dhoni behind the stumps.
Ashwin was one of two test debutants for India, the other being pace bowler Umesh Yadav.
The second test will be played in Kolkata from Nov. 14-18 and the final test in Mumbai from Nov. 22-26.
The test series will be followed by a five-game one-day series with matches in Cuttack (Nov. 29), Visakhapatnam (Dec. 2), Ahmedabad (Dec. 5), Indore (Dec. 8) and Chennai (Dec. 11).
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