West Iindies reply solidly to India’s 353

West Indies 107 for 1 (Brathwaite 53*) trail India 353 (Ashwin 118, Saha 104, Rahul 50, Cummins 3-54, Joseph 3-69) by 246 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details

India lost their first wickets for 126 and their last five for 14, but between the two collapses 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.

The day, though, belonged to West Indies, whose new opening combination of Leon Johnson and Kraigg Brathwaite followed the bowling charge with a stand greater than all their earlier opening partnerships in this series put together. Brathwaite ended the day unbeaten on 53, with West Indies still 246 behind, which could take some time coming on the slow outfield. After 234 runs on the first day, the second day produced 226 for six wickets.

India’s theoretical dislike of slow scoring, and 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 105 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 …

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