ZCZC
BSP-06
CRICKET-WIS-IND
India close in on Test series and Tour sweep of West Indies
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Sept 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – India moved closer to a Test
series and tour sweep of the West Indies, reducing the home side to 45 for
two at stumps after setting them the improbable target of 468 on the third
day of the second and final Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Sunday.
Having declined to enforce the follow-on after the Caribbean team were
dismissed at the start of the day for 117 to trail by 299 runs on first
innings, Indian captain Virat Kohli declared his side’s second innings at 168
for four in the day’s final session.
Left to negotiate 13 testing overs from the tourists’ pace attack before
the close of play, West Indies lost openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John
Campbell to Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami respectively, leaving Darren
Bravo – who survived a blow on the helmet in the final over of the evening
from Jasprit Bumrah – and Shamarh Brooks to carry the fight into the fourth
day.
Yet as much as India’s overall quality in all departments of the game once
again threatened to overwhelm the West Indies, it was the performance of
senior home fast bowler Kemar Roach which highlighted another eventful day.
Roach spearheaded the effort to limit India’s search for quick runs and a
timely declaration in the afternoon session, taking three for 28 including a
burst of two wickets off successive deliveries in which he claimed the prized
wicket of Kohli first ball.
Having removed Mayank Agarwal before lunch, the 30-year-old’s sustained
pace and accuracy accounted for the other opener, K.L. Rahul, before
despatching the Indian leader with his next delivery.
Both were caught behind in identical fashion and it could have gotten even
better for Roach and the West Indies as he came within millimetres of
matching Bumrah’s hat-trick of the previous day. His first delivery to new
batsman Ajinkya Rahane took an inside-edge and flew past the stumps on the
way to the fine-leg boundary.
Roach’s three wickets elevated him to ninth on the list of all-time
leading wicket-takers in Tests for the West Indies with 193 victims, one
ahead of the legendary Wes Hall, who was the consistent spearhead of the
dominant Caribbean teams of the 1960’s.
Jason Holder then prised out Chesteshwar Pujara to reduce India to 57 for
four before first innings century-maker Hanuma Vihari joined Rahane in an
unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 111, the pair completing half-centuries to
prompt Kohli’s decision to close off the innings and give his bowlers an hour
to make inroads into the West Indies batting line-up.
Earlier, Roach was last out in the West Indies first innings as the lower
order offered a bit more resistance on the third morning than the frontline
batsmen had shown late on day two when Bumrah’s hat-trick highlighted the
demolition job by India’s fast bowlers, reducing their opponents to 87 for
seven at the close of play.
Bumrah failed to add to his six-wicket tally from the day before and it
was left to the other frontline bowlers – Shami, Sharma and spinner Ravindra
Jadeja – to eventually claim the last three wickets after 75 minutes’ play.
Mindful no doubt of managing the workload on his bowlers in extremely hot
conditions, Kohli opted to bat a second time, presenting Roach with the
opportunity to further enhance his already burgeoning credentials as the best
West Indies fast bowler of the modern era.
BSS/AFP/AU/08:25 hrs