Gayle's was the only wicket to fall in the afternoon

His bravery was rewarded when he trapped Lara, attempting a sweep, lbw for four, the highlight of an economical spell of 1-29 off 14 overs.

It was the second wicket of an enthralling final session after Sachin Tendulkar had also chipped in by bowling West Indies opener Wavell Hinds for 65.

It was Hinds' eighth Test half-century, and Ramnaresh Sarwan followed suit in a stylish innings, finishing the day on 50 not out.

Captain Carl Hooper was also there on 26, having enjoyed a large slice of luck on several occasions, as the West Indies reached 187-3 in reply to West Indies 513-9 declared.

Zaheer Khan had made the first breakthrough, a ball of extra bounce catching Chris Gayle's gloves on the way to wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra, the left-hander departing for 32.

Earlier in the day, Ratra had completed his maiden Test century, but it was not all plain sailing for the tourists as three wickets fell during the opening session.

VVS Laxman, on 130, stepped back too far to fend off a rising delivery from Dillon and landed on his stumps.

That ended a 217-run seventh wicket partnership, beating the previous Indian record against West Indies of 186 by Eknath Solkar and Dilip Sardesai at Barbados in 1971.

Milestone for Ratra

Khan followed three overs later, wafting outside off-stump at Cameron Cuffy to gain an edge behind.

And Javagal Srinath managed 15 from 27 deliveries before lofting Cuffy to Lara in the covers.

Dillon, Cuffy and Pedro Collins finished with three wickets each, Cuffy the most economical with 87 runs off his 40 overs.

Ratra reached three figures with a thick-edged pull to fine leg, his 12th boundary in a 255-ball innings.

He was 115 not out when Sourav Ganguly called his batsmen in.

The 20-year-old became only the second Indian wicketkeeper to score a Test century overseas.

Vijay Manjrekar had scored 118 at Kingston in 1953, although it was the only one of his 55 Tests in which the middle-order batsman took the gloves.

West Indies: W W Hinds, C H Gayle, R R Sarwan, B C Lara C L Hooper (Capt), S Chanderpaul, R D Jacobs (Wkt), M Dillon P T Collins, A Sanford, C E Cuffy.

India: S S Das, W Jaffer, R Dravid, S R Tendulkar S C Ganguly (Capt), V V S Laxman, A Ratra (Wkt), A Kumble, Z Khan J Srinath, A Nehra.

Umpires: D R Shepherd and R B Tiffin