India push wilting Windies to verge of heavy defeat
Chandrika, Bravo hope to put up much more concerted efforts
NORTH SOUND, Antigua and Barbuda, July 24, (AFP): West Indies were facing the prospect of another huge series-opening defeat at 21 for one in their second innings at stumps, a deficit of 302 runs, after being forced to follow-on on the third day of the first Test against India on Saturday.
Fast-medium bowlers Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami took four wickets each to wreck the home side’s first innings, dismissing them for 243 in the final session of the day with half-centuries by opener Kraigg Brathwaite and wicketkeeper-batsman Shane Dowrich representing the only meaningful resistance.
Brathwaite, who defied India’s array of pace and spin for almost five hours in getting to 74, could not survive the first over of the second turn at the crease, being trapped palpably leg-before by Ishant Sharma.
Rajendra Chandrika and Darren Bravo survived to the close and will resume on the fourth day hoping to put up a much more concerted effort than in the first innings.
In their previous three Test series, the West Indies lost the opening matches at home to Australia by nine wickets a year ago and then by an innings in Sri Lanka and Australia at the end of 2015.
India’s bowlers made a mockery of all the lamentations of a placid, lifeless pitch over the first two days with an impressive, purposeful effort throughout the day.
They were held up though at the start of play as Braithwaite and nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo frustrated Virat Kohli and his men for 75 minutes until legspinner Amit Mishra had Bishoo stumped by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
It was second of six dismissals for Saha in the innings, putting him alongside Syed Kirmani and Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the most dismissals by an Indian wicketkeeper in a Test innings.
From that point on it became a virtual procession of West Indies batsmen to and from the wicket with Shami outstanding either side of the lunch interval when he disposed of Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Jermaine Blackwood to add to his dismissal of Chandrika late on the second evening.
Debutant Roston Chase displayed a measure of grit in a 47-run stand for the sixth wicket with Brathwaite, but the reintroduction of Yadav for another spell in mid-afternoon proved telling.
Scoreboard
Scoreboard at stumps on the third day of the first Test between the West Indies and India at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.
INDIA 1st Innings - 566 for 8 declared (V. Kohli 200, R. Ashwin 113, S. Dhawan 84)
WEST INDIES 1st Innings (overnight 31/1) K. Brathwaite c Saha b Yadav ................. 74 R. Chandrika c Saha b Shami .................. 16 D. Bishoo st Saha b Mishra ..................... 12 D. Bravo c Saha b Shami ......................... 11 M. Samuels c Saha b Shami ...................... 1 J. Blackwood c Rahane b Shami ............... 0 R. Chase c Kohli b Yadav ........................ 23 S. Dowrich not out .................................... 57 J. Holder c Saha b Yadav ........................ 36 C. Brathwaite b Yadav ............................... 0 S. Gabriel b Mishra .................................... 2 Extras (b4, lb2, w2, nb3) .......................... 11 Total (90.2 overs, all out) ....................... 243
Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Chandrika), 2-68 (Bishoo), 3-90 (Bravo), 4-92 (Samuels), 5-92 (Blackwood), 6-139 (Chase), 7-144 (K. Brathwaite), 8-213 (Holder), 9-213 (C. Brathwaite), 10-243 (Gabriel).
Bowling: I. Sharma 20-7-44-0 (3nb), U. Yadav 18-8-41-4, M. Shami 20-4-66-4 (2w), R. Ashwin 17-5-43-0, A. Mishra 15.2-4-43-2.
WEST INDIES 2nd Innings (following on) K. Brathwaite lbw b Sharma ....................... 2 R. Chandrika not out .................................. 9 D. Bravo not out ....................................... 10 Extras ......................................................... 0 Total (13 overs, 1 wkt) .............................. 21
To bat: M. Samuels, J. Blackwood, R. Chase, S. Dowrich, J. Holder, C. Brathwaite, D. Bishoo, S. Gabriel. Fall of wicket: 1-2 (Brathwaite) Bowling: I. Sharma 4-2-3-1, M. Shami 4-32-0, U. Yadav 3-1-8-0, R. Ashwin 2-0-8-0. Toss: India Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Ian Gould (ENG) Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SLK)