West Indies v India 3rd Test - 5 Talking Points

Team India staged another commanding performance in the Test series to claim the 4-match series 2-0 with a game to go. They decided to bat for a few overs on the last day before declaring the innings and despite keeping a cushion of just 88 overs in hand Virat Kohli was confident enough that his bowling unit had enough ammunition to wrap up the game and as it happened India bowled West Indies out before Tea on Day 5 to win the match by 237 runs. This is the first time that the touring Indian team has managed to win more than a Test in the Caribbean.

Being asked to bat first India posted 353 runs in the first innings powered by two hundred by Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha. Though West Indies started off well and did not look vulnerable, the Indian bowlers did well to bowl them out for 225 in the first innings. The second knock wasn’t the easiest for the visitors as they were dealt a few early blows and it was Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma who got them to a position where they could declare at 217/7 with a lead of 345 runs.

In their last inning, Windies were never in contention and the Indian bowlers kept striking and in 47.3 overs they ran through the opposition while they just managed to score 108 runs. It was a really good Test match for Virat Kohli & Co. while the problems for West Indies continue. Here we look at the 5 talking points of the 3rd Test.

1. Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha:

The Indian team looked in trouble and despite KL Rahul posting his first Test fifty and Ajinkya Rahane scoring 35 runs they didn’t have enough runs on the board as the batsmen couldn’t convert the starts into something substantial. Virat Kohli promoting himself to no. 3 wasn’t the best of moves as he fell early to the debutant Alzari Joseph and that put a lot of pressure on the middle order.

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Rohit Sharma who came in for Cheteshwar Pujara was ordinary and was scalped by Joseph caught behind. But that is when Saha joined Ravi Ashwin in the middle. The duo calmed things, took their time since it wasn’t really easy to bat, the ball was doing its bit and the West Indies bowlers definitely knew where they had to bowl.  Both Ashwin and Saha got to their hundreds after Lunch on Day 2 and got India to a position where they could put pressure on the West Indies batters in the first innings. They had a 213-run partnership for the 6th wicket. The allrounder scored 118 while Saha returned after scoring 104 runs.

2. Strong top order reply from West Indies:

In reply to India’s 353 West Indies started off well with Kraigg Brathwaite once again leading their response. He found some support from newcomer Leon Johnson, Darren Bravo and the veteran Marlon Samuels. The hosts ended Day 2 strong at 107/1. It rained again in the series and enough to ruin an entire day’s play. There was no play at all possible on the 3rd day and with the position both the teams were in, the Test looked good enough for a draw.

But things got better thereon and the game resumed on Day 4. For the West Indies Brathwaite held his end pretty well, while Johnson and Bravo scored 23 and 29 respectively Samuels got close to yet another half-century but fell on 48. They tested the patience of the Indian bowlers who didn’t have easy wickets with no real help from the wicket either. Brathwaite was the highest run-scorer for Windies with 64. The batsmen in the top 5 scored at least 20 runs but it was a landslide thereafter and they never recovered.

3. India stage a great comeback:

Not many things were going their way and frustration had started to sneak in but that was exactly when Virat Kohli had the second new ball in hand and he threw it to two bowlers who were coming in for this game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja. Both the bowlers immediately got wickets and absolutely ripped apart the Caribbean batting. Bhuvi got the ball to move and he is at his lethal best when he has a red ball in hand and its swinging.

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The bowler who wasn’t a part of the Indian team for the first 2 Tests not only grabbed a 5-wicket haul but also ensured the Indian team had a sizeable lead of 128 runs at the half-way stage in the Test match. The West Indies lower order fell like a pack of cards and crumbled from 202/3 in 87 overs to 225 all out in 103.4 overs. It was a great comeback by the Indian bowlers after it looked like the hosts could well take a lead.

4. Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma sail India through:

Indian team had come out to bat in the second inning with some intent and a plan; to score as many runs as possible and that in a stipulated duration of overs. KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan scored 28 and 26 respectively from 24 and 48 balls respectively to give India a good start. But once Rahul got out skipper Kohli failed twice in two innings and couldn’t even get to the double figures. Shikhar also got out in soon enough and the Indian team was under pressure. At 72/3 things didn’t look very bright and the lead was just over 200 runs.

That was when Rahane and Rohit played their part. The Mumbai duo played their shots and scored the runs, which didn’t let the pressure mount while also pushing West Indies on the back foot with the increasing weight of lead. At the end of Day 4 Rahane was unbeaten on 51 and Rohit on 41.

Sharma fell soon on the last day but Ajinkya continued and was there in the middle undefeated on 78 till India decided to declare on 217.

5. India clean up West Indies with Bravo resistance:

Team India had decided to keep 88 overs in hand and believed was enough for them to settle accounts with the West Indies team in their second knock. Virat started with Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar. Bhuvi first removed Brathwaite for 4 lbw and Shami had his man Johnson for a duck caught by Rohit at short-leg.

The hemorrhage of wickets continued as one after the other Indian bowlers continued to edge past the defenses and resistance of the West Indies batters. But there was one man who stood his ground and that was Darren Bravo. He watched one after the other his partners show him their back. All the Indian bowlers returned with wickets – Bhuvi got one, Shami three, Ishant two, Ashwin one and Jadeja two.

The Indian bowlers executed different plans for each of the batsmen and it did work out in their favor. And soon it was a matter of time before they concluded things, it happened rather sooner and with that, they also conquered the series 2-0.