India out for 353 after Ashwin, Saha tons

Tea West Indies 16 for 0 (Johnson 8*, Brathwaite 8*) trail India 353 (Ashwin 118, Saha 104, Rahul 50, Cummins 3-54, Joseph 3-69) by 337 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

India lost their first wickets for 126 and their last five for 14, but in between the fifth and sixth R Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha added 213 runs to save their blushes. Ashwin scored his fourth century, all against West Indies and two in this series, and Saha attacked his way to a maiden Test century, which countered West Indies’ plan to keep India from scoring freely on a slow outfield. In the nine overs they got before tea, West Indies managed to avoid incident.

Some of the selections in Virat Kohli’s Test team might leave you worried for the future of old-fashioned Test batsmen, but Saha and Ashwin continued to bat for the tribe after the rescue job on day one. While Ashwin, resuming on 75, gave India the solidity, it was Saha who played with intent against a limited West Indies attack happy to play the defensive game. Saha added 58 off 107 balls to his overnight 46 even as West Indies kept it tight at the other end.

The first hour of the day replicated what happened for long periods on the opening day. West Indies stacked up one side of the field, and their strike bowlers spent their energy bowling on that side …

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