Gritty Chase rescues wasteful WI Shardul hobbles off on Test debut after just 10 balls
FIGHTING STAND Raises century partnership with skipper Holder after top order throws away good starts
HYDERABAD: A fighting 104-run stand for the seventh wicket between skipper Jason Holder and Roston Chase helped West Indies put up a decent 295/7 at stumps on Day One of the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
Chase was unbeaten on 98 with seven fours and a six, eyeing his fourth Test hundred, and Devendra Bishoo was batting on two. It was a much-improved show after the visitors’ batting failed twice in the first Test in Rajkot. In this match, West Indies have already batted 95 overs. In Rajkot, both their innings were wrapped up in just 98.
On Friday too, it seemed like the West Indian top-order batsmen were in a hurry. Choosing to bat first on a wicket with a fair sprinkling of grass that did not offer much turn, most West Indies batsmen failed to put their head down and grind it out.
They lost three wickets each in the first two sessions, scoring 86 until lunch and 111 in the second session, losing three of their genuine batsmen — Kieran Powell, Shai Hope and Sunil Ambris — to poor shot selection. The final session was their best when they put up 98 runs losing just one wicket, that of Holder who was caught behind trying to pull a short one from Umesh Yadav soon after the second new ball was taken in the 88th over.
Coming out to bat in the final session on 197/6, Chase and Holder taught their top order the art of batting in the sub-continent after the former had shared a 69-run stand with Shane Dowrich for the sixth wicket.
Chase’s show didn’t surprise Windies coach, Stuart Law. “He understands spin. They face a lot of spin in the Caribbean domestic
cricket. He has got a long reach and takes half-a-stride and is there to the length of the crease. He uses that to his advantage, and he is a clean striker of the ball.”
Chase showed signs of his match-saving knock against India in Jamaica two years back where he scored an unbeaten 137, his highest in Tests.
Even after India lost debutant medium-pacer Shardul Thakur in the fourth over of the day to a groin injury, West Indies kept losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to make India feel a bowler short. Initially a touch erratic, Umesh settled into a good rhythm and got some reverse swing going midway into the second session. He made up for Thakur’s absence by bowling a whopping 23 overs in four spells, bagging three wickets for 83 runs. His third wicket was the most crucial, Holder losing composure and going after a ball he should have left alone. Opener Kieran Powell was the first to go, falling to R Ashwin. West Indies struggled the most against Kuldeep who took three wickets. HYDERABAD: When coach Ravi Shastri handed the cap to Shardul Thakur 15 minutes before the toss on Friday, the Mumbai medium-pacer must have felt on top of the world as teammates hugged and congratulated him. He became the third player in as many Tests to debut for India after Hanuma Vihari in Southampton and Prithvi Shaw in Rajkot.
But unlike Shaw and Vihari’s memorable debuts, Thakur’s turned out to be rather forgettable, at least for the time being. Just like Lionel Messi’s international debut in a friendly against Hungary in 2005 that lasted all of 43 seconds before he was given the marching orders for an elbow on a defender, the Mumbai quickie’s contribution on Day One of the second Test against West Indies here lasted all of 10 balls.
In the fourth over of the West Indies innings, the right-arm medium pacer, who was brought into the XI in place of Mohammad Shami, “felt a sudden pain in the right groin area” and left the field, the nature of the injury suggesting a lack of proper warmup before the start of play. R Ashwin had to be introduced early as he bowled the remaining two deliveries. Thakur’s figures read 1.4-0-9-0. He was taken for a scan to assess damage.
Had Shardul been there, it would have been more help for the spinners. But you can’t really do much. We were bowling with one pacer. UMESH YADAV, India bowler
INJURY-PRONE
On September 20, Thakur was sent back home from the Asia Cup in Dubai after he complained of a right hip and groin soreness after the game against Hong Kong and was replaced by Siddharth Kaul. Thakur then played for Mumbai against Punjab in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match on September 28 bagging three wickets. And now he is out again for the same injury.
The pacer from Palghar district of Maharashtra had waited in the sidelines for the past two years, his first call-up coming on India’s tour of the West Indies in 2016.He has played five ODIS and seven T20s and is also part of the 14-member squad for the first two ODIS against the West Indies.
Thakur, who began his career as a bulky leg-spinner who could bat, became a medium-pacer later and underwent a rigorous fitness regime to lose weight. After an ordinary first Ranji season in 2012-13, Thakur returned with 27 wickets in the next.