Ravichandran Ashwin produced a peach of a supply whereas Mohammed Siraj made the previous ball speak as a defensive West Indies crawled their method to 229 for five towards India on a rain-hit third day of the second Take a look at at Port of Spain, Trinidad on Saturday. Solely 67 overs had been doable on the third day with West Indies batters on the lookout for a draw, including simply 143 runs. They’re nonetheless 209 runs behind India’s first innings rating of 438. Nevertheless, there was no let-up in depth in Indian bowling as Ashwin bowled the ‘ball of the collection’ and Siraj delivered an ideal in-cutter to scrub up Joshua Da Silva simply on the stroke of rain-break to finish the day on a good keel on the flattest of decks.
West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite (75 off 235 balls) used his monumental powers of focus to frustrate the Indian assault on an insipid observe earlier than world’s No. 1 Take a look at bowler held the centre stage with a magical second that introduced the grins again in Indian camp.
The observe on supply here’s a poor commercial for Take a look at cricket and if it will get any score apart from ”Common” from ICC that might be an actual shock.
If West Indies had been indiscreet of their shot choice within the opening Take a look at, the house crew batters had been over-cautious and a dull pitch helped their unfavorable method and a draw appears an inevitability.
Toiling for near 73 overs on a observe which at finest may be referred to as ”useless”, Ashwin (33-10-61-1) bowled a supply that had flight and required inward drift which was adequate to entice Brathwaite to plonk his front-foot for his umpteenth defensive prod.
However to his horror, the ball turned sharply, an off-spinner’s dream supply that went between bat and pad to hit the stumps.
A compact defensive participant, Brathwaite’s solely fault was pushing his bat barely forward of his pad as an alternative of holding it shut. It allowed the ball to use the hole to the fullest.
The dismissal got here simply when Brathwaite and an equally stodgy Jermaine Blackwood (20 off 92 balls) introduced their ultra-defensive ”A” sport to the fore including solely 40 runs in 21 overs within the post-lunch session.
The Queens Park Oval observe has actually nothing in it for bowlers and with West Indies batters intent to dam extra deliveries, creating possibilities turned all of the tougher.
Having misplaced higher a part of the primary session to rain, Indian bowlers had been left excessive and dry with the observe not displaying appreciable put on and tear.
The figures of Ravindra Jadeja at that stage (25-10-37-2) was a sign sufficient that defending wasn’t troublesome as he hardly bowled any wicket-taking deliveries through the post-lunch session.
Ashwin additionally had his moments of frustration when he over-flighted just a few deliveries and was dispatched to the boundary.
Nevertheless Jadeja had a gun slip fielder in Ajinkya Rahane, who held onto a stunner diving to his left to ship again Jermaine Blackwood as he tried to jab at a supply that took the surface fringe of his blade.
Whereas the brand new ball was obtainable, skipper Rohit Sharma continued with the previous ball as Jaydev Unadkat (0/42 in 16 overs) did get some reverse swing with out a lot luck. But it surely was Mohammed Siraj (20-6-48-1), who bowled one with a wobbly seam because the scuffed up aspect deviated in after pitching to scrub up Da Silva.
Within the morning session, debutant Mukesh Kumar was rewarded for his nagging channel bowling as his maiden wicket within the type of fellow debutant Kirk McKenzie.
Bowling a line which is true on off-stump or shade exterior of it, Mukesh bowled a supply on fuller aspect with not sufficient room to chop which McKenzie (32 off 57 balls) edged it to Ishan Kishan for a regulation catch.
McKenzie, who hit 4 boundaries and a six, appeared in effective contact and performed with loads of goal throughout his 57-ball keep.
Nevertheless, one man who could be itching to get into the wickets column might be veteran Saurashtra left-arm pacer Unadkat.
The home workhorse undoubtedly is the weakest hyperlink within the Indian bowling assault as he’s the one bowler who’s but to get a wicket after 98 overs.
To be truthful, his put up tea spell was one of the best however bit extra tempo on a flat deck would have made him extra incisive sufficient to create issues for the batters.
With the following collection in South Africa, Unadkat with two wicket-less Exams within the West Indies may discover it extraordinarily troublesome to carry onto his place within the squad.
The distinction between him and Mukesh has been the size that the Bengal pacer discovered which is barely fuller regardless of each of them bowling on the identical tempo.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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