BRIDGETOWN: India fast bowler Ishant Sharma claimed his best figures in international cricket and captured his 100th Test wicket to give his team a narrow first innings lead over West Indies in the second Test Thursday. The lanky paceman bowled superbly on a lively Kensington Oval pitch that suited the quicks to finish with the impressive figures of six for 55, including the last two wickets in successive balls to remain on a hat trick. Sharma took the last three wickets to help restrict West Indies to a first innings total of 190, 11 behind India's 201, after the home side had looked set to cruise past at 186-7. Marlon Samuels, who replaced sacked vice captain Brendan Nash, repaid the selectors' faith by scoring an unbeaten 78 only to run out of partners. He also shared a vital sixth wicket stand of 77 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was dismissed for 37 in the penultimate over of the morning session, after the home side slumped to 57-5 and in real danger of falling well short of the tourists' total. Most of the second day had been washed out by torrential rain and Thursday's scheduled start was delayed because of morning showers that soon passed over. The pitch, which had caused the visiting batsmen all sorts of problems on the opening day with its extra pace and bounce, was less hostile than the previous days but still offered plenty of encouragement to the bowlers and batsmen the chance to score runs if they remained patient. Resuming on 98-5, Samuels and Chanderpaul adopted a cautious approach, eliminating any risky shots as they looked for a first innings lead after losing a tight first test in Jamaica. They reached their 50 partnership off a painstakingly slow 136 balls but were looking more and more comfortable at the crease when Chanderpaul suddenly dragged a short-pitched ball from Abhimanyu Mithun back on to his stumps with the total on 134. West Indies went to lunch on 138-6 but lost its remaining four wickets before tea with captain Darren Sammy (15) and Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards (both no score) all falling to Sharma.
