Fifties from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite helped West Indies recover from an early defensive hole they had dug themselves. Brathwaite was not even two years old when Chanderpaul started playing Tests, but today he played the old-fashioned watchful innings and Chanderpaul turned the momentum with quick runs. When Chanderpaul came in to bat at 72 for 3, West Indies' run-rate was 2.1; the fourth-wicket partnership of 87 went at 2.8.

You couldn't quite blame the teams for the slow cricket, though. The third ball of the match didn't carry through to the wicketkeeper, and when it happened four more times in the next seven overs, this Test had attrition written all over it. The quicks saw effort balls go through waist high, and the batsmen found little value for their strokes. Then India introduced spin in the 10th over. A combination of early turn and West Indies' defensive mindset produced early wickets, but once Chanderpaul started playing games with the bowlers' lines and lengths, the attrition was back and West Indies stayed ahead on that front.

On this pitch, at least until reverse swing becomes a factor, Syed Abid Ali and Eknath Solkar would have been as effective as Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. When India bowl 64 overs in the first two sessions of a match, you know how little there is for the fast bowlers. The two tried hard, though, but the only excitement they could produce was when Kieran Powell looked to work Ishant to leg and got a leading edge that travelled between third slip and gully. Twenty of the first 30 runs came through boundaries through that region, all of them soft outside edges, all of them along the ground. It was hard to imagine an edge from a defensive shot carrying to hand.

Pragyan Ojha, however, brought life to proceedings. After five defensive shots in his first over, Powell tried to hit a four, and was nearly caught-and-bowled. Ojha made amends for that drop in his next over when he went round the stumps to the left-hand batsman and got the ball to turn against the angle. The turn was big enough to beat the bat comprehensively, and hit the pad in front.

Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards then became so defensive they could have been batting for stumps on the final day. The ball did turn, but did so slowly. Yet West Indies were so set on defence that MS Dhoni, who had earlier given the spinners just one slip and one short leg, now crowded the bat. Powell fell during a spell of six maiden overs. Brathwaite and Edwards scored one run in the four overs after Powell's dismissal.

There were only two attempts to break the spinners' rhythm. When Edwards tried to step out to debutant R Ashwin, he was beaten in the fight and hit on the pad. The next time he tried that, he drilled a return catch to Ojha. This time Ojha accepted the offer. Darren Bravo and Brathwaite now showed more initiative, but nearing lunch they were not going to take any undue risks. After lunch, when Bravo went to manufacture a cut shot, a weaknesses he has shown previously, Ashwin bowled him for his first Test wicket.

Then came Chanderpaul with his shuffle, nurdles, deflections, late-cuts and the odd big shot. The ball had become softer too. Singles started coming. Mid-on and mid-off had been deep earlier; sweeper-cover had been in place too, but the field looked much more porous now. Brathwaite, one of the three to have survived playing just defence, benefited from Chanderpaul's manipulations and became only the second West Indies batsman to have reached fifty twice at the age of 18.

Brathwaite might not have taken liberties down the ground, but was good at running the ball to third man or helping it around the corner on the leg side. Behind square on the off side he scored 25 runs, including four boundaries, all of them intentional. At least Brathwaite allowed India to bowl where they wanted. The second ball of spin Chanderpaul faced, he dragged from outside off for a single past midwicket. It looked a completely natural act by Chanderpaul's standards.

Soon he started playing the whole array, incuding the six over Ashwin's head to end a quiet period of four runs off 11 balls. Both of them reached their half-centuries without incident bar a Brathwaite edge off Ashwin's bowling, which didn't carry to slip despite hitting high on the bat.