Reactions and distractions

It went off the bat. It really did. Surely, Shikhar Dhawan felt the impact? It was a short ball from Darren Sammy and Dhawan made a lame attempt at an upper cut. The ball lobbed up to the wicketkeeper, the umpire nodded his head to suggest it was out; perhaps he felt it was so clearly out that he didn't have to raise the finger, but he had to since Dhawan didn't budge. And as he trudged off ever so slowly, Dhawan even had a wry grin as though he had been wrongly given out. Strange.

Lendl Simmons couldn't believe it when he was given out. He was cramped for room by an offbreak from R Ashwin and the ball seemed to go off the thigh and bounce off Parthiv Patel's helmet. Never mind whether there was an edge or not, since a batsman cannot be given out if the ball touches the external protective gear of a fielder. His partner Andre Fletcher even tried to argue the case, but the umpires did not agree. Perhaps they just didn't see the impact with the helmet. Simmons had to depart. Shame.

It was a free-hit and S Badrinath lifted it to the left of long-off, but Ashley Nurse was in some mood. He dashed across, flung himself full-length to his left and caught the ball with both hands. It was an outstanding effort but he couldn't help but touch the ropes before he managed to throw the ball inside the boundary. Pity.

It happened off the fifth delivery of the day. When Ravi Rampaul landed the ball on a length, a piece of the pitch flew up. It was the sign of things to come. It proved a slow turning track. If such surfaces persist through the series, things are going to be difficult for West Indies.

It came from Chris Gayle. Dressed in a white costume, he was seen in the stands sitting with Jerome Taylor. As the game progressed, he tweeted that he planned to move to the Trini Posse stands. As the game neared the end, Gayle was seen there, mixing with the crowd and posing for photographs. Christopher Barnwell then launched a massive six and the cheer-girls, standing in front of Gayle, swayed ever so joyously. Gayle smiled and waved a small white towel that he held in his hands. Later he even tweeted: "WI Fans..Don't worry about a thing,cause every little things gonna be alright..." (sic). Were the white flag and the tweet that followed signs that he has reached some sort of compromise with the board? Hope floats.