October 18 Friday 2002
Chanderpaul's wicket was special: Kumble 

CHENNAI: Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who grabbed five wickets to wreck the West Indies in the second Test here, said Thursday he was most pleased with the prize scalp of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. 

"His was a special wicket, for he has scored heavily against us many times. It was good to dismiss him early today," said the ace spinner on his 32nd birthday. 

Chanderpaul was one of Kumble's five victims in the match, caught by wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel for 27. 

The prolific left-handed Guyanese batsman troubled India the most in a five-Test home series in May, scoring 562 in seven innings at an average of 140.50. 

He also scored a defiant half-century in the opening Test at Bombay last week. 

"Parthiv took a brilliant catch to dismiss Chanderpaul as there was quite a bit of extra bounce in that delivery," said Kumble, who finished with 5-30 for his 20th haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings in 75 matches. 

India were 31 for no loss at stumps in reply to the West Indies' meagre 167 on the opening day at the Chidambaram Stadium. Kumble said it was good to restrict the tourists to a modest total, for he was not sure how the newly-laid pitch would behave on the first day. "It was a new wicket we were playing on and I was not sure how it would behave," said the spinner. 

"The toss was crucial and when we lost it we tried to get them out as quickly as possible," said Kumble, who has so far taken 345 Test wickets. "I don't think it was a great first-day wicket because there was nothing in it for fast bowlers. In the beginning, there was not much bounce and all you could do was to bowl wicket to wicket and maintain a good line. 

"This was the best thing to do and it worked. After I got a couple of wickets things started happening. There was a bit of bounce in the wicket after tea and I was helped by the fact that Harbhajan kept one end tight." Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh finished with 3-56.