WI v IND, 3rd Test Day 4 Review: India takes the upper hand

After the disappointment of the abandonment of the third day’s play due to rain, Day 4 saw India dominate proceedings as they bowled out the West Indies for a substandard total and went about setting a total for the hosts. Bhuvneshwar Kumar came up with the goods as he picked up a five-wicket haul, something that will certainly make a case for him in the future Test matches. Rohit Sharma also made amends with the bat.

Day four began where day two left off with the West Indies on the cusp of taking the upper hand. In spite of losing Darren Bravo early on in the day, the West Indies did indeed have runs on the board. Moreover, they had a strong batting unit who had not faced a single delivery as yet. Vice-captain Kraigg Brathwaite was also snapped up in what turned out to be a rain-hit session when he attempted to cut a slow and flighted delivery from Ravi Ashwin.

The second session of play began well for the West Indies as Marlon Samuels and Jermaine Blackwood began to stitch an important partnership in the grander scheme of the Test match. Samuels showed the St. Lucia crowd what is was to play gritty Test match cricket as the duo went on to stitch a partnership in excess of 50 runs. However, soon after they did this, it was the whirlwind of the Bhuvaneshwar Kumar bowling that would take over the headlines from there on.

With his gentle pace and vicious swing, Bhuvi went on to remove Samuels and Blackwood, each to a similar delivery. This effectively triggered the collapse as far as the West Indies were concerned. The 26-year old pacer completed his five-wicket haul as the Windies lost their last seven wickets for just 22 runs. This saw the Indians claim a first-innings lead of 128.

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The Indians came out to bat with barely enough overs left in the day provided the rains did not make an intervention. However, unlike their propaganda of playing the patient game, it was the simple fact that they had to complete their plan of setting a target before it would become too late for the Indians to bowl out the West Indies.

KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan went about dispatching the West Indies bowlers to all parts of the stadium as they began to score the ‘quick runs’. Virat Kohli was out yet again as it seemed as though he could not withstand the pace from Alzarri Joseph and Miguel Cummins. Ajinkya Rahane went about smashing his way to a half-century as the Indians closed the day with a massive lead of 285 runs.

Watch: Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 5-wicket haul in a single spell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWGPX1Xzsmc

Brief Scores:

India, 1st innings: 353 all out

West Indies, 1st innings: 225 all out (K Brathwaite 64; B Kumar 5/33)

India, 2nd innings: 157/3 (A Rahane 51; M Cummins 2/22)

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