CMC – Resolute batting down the order, led by their captain Kraigg Brathwaite, ensured there was no batting collapse from West Indies this time, but India made timely strikes in between a couple rain delays to remain in control of the second Test on Saturday in Trinidad.
Brathwaite made 75 and typified the painstaking approach from the Caribbean side, and they reached 229 for five, replying to India’s first innings total of 438, when bad light stopped play on the rain-marred third day of the 100th Test between the two teams at Queen’s Park Oval.
All of the West Indies batsmen batted with restraint, but none of them could convert their promising starts into significant scores – Alick Athanaze was not out on 37 and Jason Holder was not out on 11 when stumps were drawn, debutant Kirk McKenzie made 32, and vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood got 20.
West Indies gathered only 143 from the 67 overs bowled during the day on a mostly unresponsive pitch, but they will be more than gleeful that their batting did not implode like the first Test when they failed to pass 200 in both innings, and they finished the day 10 away from making India bat again.
The host will be relying heavily on Athanaze and Holder on the fourth day to help them make a deep cut into the 209-run deficit they currently face with only the frontline bowlers remaining and two days left in the match.
“I enjoyed batting here more than Dominica,” Dominican Athanaze said. “I came in at a stage where we had just lost a few quick wickets, and it was all about rebuilding, so I enjoyed the challenge of batting in that situation.
“There was not as much turn for the spinners as there was in Dominica, and given the quality of bowlers they have, they have played in so many different conditions, they understood the situation well and had the proper field settings to support the bowling, so it was a real challenge.
“I will be looking to continue in the same vein (on Sunday). It’s really about batting and batting long. We enjoy the challenge, and as a unit, it’s no secret we are trying build something here, so I think right now we will just try to enjoy the challenge and stick to the basics.”
Rain stopped play after about 55 minutes with only 10.4 overs possible in the morning session after West Indies resumed from their overnight total of 86 for one.
McKenzie batted all that time and helped the Caribbean pass the 100 mark before he was dismissed and the weather immediately intervened, prompting an early lunch with the home team on 117 for two.
McKenzie, playing his first innings in Tests, looked solid enough after he resumed from his bedtime score of 14 not out, but youthful exhuberance started to get the better of him, and pacer Mukesh Kumar got him caught behind, flashing at a ball of no real merit seconds before the rain came down.
After the interval, the Caribbean side made slow progress and crawled to 174 for three at tea after they were set back when Brathwaite fell to a special delivery from off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
The West Indies captain reached his 50 from 170 balls when he whipped a delivery from Kumar through mid-wicket for two, and he added 40 with his deputy, carrying his side comfortably past 150 before he was undone by Ashwin.
Lunging onto the front foot to defend, Brathwaite was bowled by a delivery that pitched outside the off-stump and was perhaps the only ball that turned prodigiously all day, spinning back sharply between his bat and pad to rattle the stumps.
For the remainder of the session, Blackwood and Athanaze curbed their natural instincts and defied the Indian attack in sweltering conditions with little trouble, but they added only a further 17 between them.
Both survived Indian reviews of umpiring verdicts – Blackwood, on 13, for a caught behind down the leg-side off left-arm spinner Ravendra Jadeja that TV replays suggested clipped his pad, and Athanaze, on 11, for lbw to Ashwin essaying a slog-sweep that TV ball tracking technology showed the ball may have clipped the top of leg-stump, but not out verdict of field umpire Marais Erasmus superceded.
After tea, Blackwood drove the first delivery from Jadeja through the off-side for four, but he was caught at slip two balls later when he played forward to the left-arm spinner, bowling over the wicket, and got a delivery that turned and bounced out of the bowlers’ footmarks.
Hometown hero Joshua Da Silva came to the crease and batted for close to an hour, made 11, and took West Indies past 200 before pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled him with an in-swinger and the rain returned immediately for a second time.
Play resumed after 45 minutes, and Athanaze and Holder held firm for the rest of the day even after India chose to take the second new ball after 103 overs.
India lead the two-Test series 1-0 after they won the first Test that ended last Friday at Windsor Park in Dominica by an innings and 141 runs inside three days.
The two Tests are part of the new round of the World Test Championship 2023 to 2025.
