Ever-reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck an unbeaten 91 and shared an unbroken 170- run stand with Narsing Deonarine (83) as the West Indies reached a solid 333 for four against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of their practice match, here today.
It was a good batting show by the visitors ahead of the Test series against India as four batsmen from the Caribbean side scored half-centuries.
Chanderpaul and Deonarine (83) will resume their fifth- wicket partnership tomorrow.
After Chris Gayle's failure, Kieran Powell (64) and Darren Bravo (61) built the innings with a 112-run second wicket partnership but the Piyush Chawla-led UP side had a two-wicket burst to leave the visitors 149/3 at the midway stage.
But Chanderpaul, who is eyeing a milestone 150th Test in Mumbai, once again proved to be the thorn in the flesh as he initially looked rock solid with his defence before taking on the UP bowlers. He hit 11 fours and two sixes.
There was some excitement in the air after Darren Sammy opted to bat to have the first feel of the conditions but Gayle's was a subdued knock that lasted only 25 balls. He was beaten by an Imtiaz Ahmed in-swinger that stayed low before skidding onto his stumps.
The UP medium-pacer who came in as the first change got rid of the explosive opener in a fine first spell of four overs that had three maidens and the prized scalp.
The day's proceedings began an hour late because of the dew factor as the it was an early lunch with the Windies 37/1 in 14 overs.
