Internet Desk: India are smelling victory in the first test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua where the hosts are 21/1 at stumps on Day 3 following on. West Indiies still trail by 302 with 9 wickets in hand and Indian bowlers will like to get their job done early in the day tomorrow.
Mohammed Shami, who has not played a Test match since January 2015, showed that injury and time away from bowling had not blunted him in any manner. Hitting exactly the right lengths on a pitch that was not easy to score runs on and devilish hard work for bowlers of all kinds, Shami displayed a knack for picking up wickets when none seemed forthcoming.
But, while Shami infused proceedings with a threat level that was mostly absent when West Indies had the red Duke ball in hand, India’s ascendancy was by no means the result of a lone effort.
To start with, credit must go to Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble for picking five specialist bowlers, three of them quick men. This here was a surface that minimised the need to pick the spinners out of the hand, so slowly did the ball turn when it did find purchase. This meant that a bulk of the workload had to be shouldered by the fast bowlers, and not one of them flagged, even when a partnership was building.
When West Indies began the day on 31 for 1 in its first innings in response to India’s 566 for 8 declared, Devendra Bishoo, the nightwatchman, offered sufficient irritation value, hanging around for close to an hour and a half before being dragged out of his crease by Amit Mishra for Wriddhiman Saha to complete a smart stumping.
Specially in this part of the world the current era of batsmen appear to be far more ideally suited to the shortest version of the game. But Kraigg Brathwaite is a test batsman of a more traditional art, and he stood steady in India’s way as his mates came and went at the other end.
Shami broke the pillar of Windies batting taking Marlon Samuels, Bravo and Blackwood with his swing and pace. All these batsmen failed to read the Bengal pacer well and paid the price as their foot movement did not look satisfactory.
Brathwaite continued his stay at the crease holding the other end firmly and reached his half-century in 156 balls. Umesh Yadav came in for support of Shami and got the better of debutant Roston Chase and Jason Holder in quick succession.
Shane Dowrich, the wicketkeeper, was in the process of settling in when Brathwaite (74) got a lifter from Umesh and, having committed to playing the ball, gloved it through to the ‘keeper.
With Brathwaite gone, the writing was on the wall. India stuck to its guns, bowling West Indies out for 243 in 90.2 overs. Even this score flattered the difference between the two teams, Dowrich’s unbeaten 57 helping it towards respectability.
India would have been tempted to give the quick bowlers a rest, but Shami, with 4 for 66, and Umesh, with 4 for 41, were clearly keen to get back in harness despite having sent down 38 overs between them.
Following on West Indies came into bat and lost the early wicket of first innings highest scorer Kraigg Brathwaite who got lbw to Ishant Sharma with a pitched up delivery. At 21 for 1, West Indies is still 302 runs behind and looking like it may not drag this match into the final day.