Sidhu gives India hope

Navjot Singh Sidhu, the prodigal son of Indian cricket, built the foundations of a potentially match-winning total on the second day of the Second Test against the West Indies yesterday, completing his seventh Test hundred just before the close.

He had watched from the opposite end as his opening partner Venkata Laxman was lbw to the second ball of the innings to Curtly Ambrose but neither he nor his young associate Rahul Dravid were disturbed by the trauma and carried India to 171 without further loss by close, just 125 in arrears.

On a pitch of no pace and negligible bounce, the West Indies fast bowling quartet were reduced to ineffectiveness and the absence of a front-line spinner was again revealed as an error. With captain Sachin Tendulkar in next and a long batting line-up India could anticipate a lead of at least 100. On a dry and already dusty surface they have in Anil Kumble just the man to make fullest use of the help he is sure to get when the West Indies bat again.

Sidhu, 33, was thought to have ended his career with his decision to leave the team on the tour of England last season in a huff. He cited differences with then captain Mohammad Azharuddin but was suspended on his return. Had adequate replacements been found he surely would not have been recalled to the side.

However, he was summoned after continuing problems at the top of the order during the recent trip to South Africa. He failed in the first Test in Jamaica, his first in a year and a half, making just 10 in the first innings and a duck in the second. But he is a determined character and he appreciated the type of bland surface the home groundsmen have again saddled the West Indies with.

Very little bothered Sidhu or Dravid as they compiled their runs against bowling led by Ambrose and captain Courtney Walsh, two ageing greats obviously jaded by their recent exertions in Australia, supported by two rookies, Franklyn Rose in only his second Test and Mervyn Dillon, a tall Trinidadian making his debut.

Both batsmen presented tight defences but Sidhu was always quick to pounce on the wayward delivery. His driving through the off-side was the main feature of his four and a half hours at the wicket and brought him most of his 11 fours. There was also a six over mid-wicket from Carl Hooper's offspin. Dravid, who so impressed in England last summer, showed a broad bat and steady concentration to be unbeaten on 57.

The West Indies had just one opportunity to separate the pair. In the final over before tea Sidhu, on 47, drove at Rose and edged a sharp, chest- high catch, which Stuart Williams at third slip could only parry. When Sidhu was 16 he was lucky that the ball from Dillon that rolled back on to his leg stump did not dislodge the bail. Dravid's alarms were confined to two possible run outs when fielders' throws missed the stumps.