After collapsing to 5-127, India’s innings was salvaged by an unbeaten century stand between Ravichandran Ashwin (75no) and Wriddhiman Saha (46). They haven’t had many of those in the current series against India – indeed they haven’t had many at all in the recent years of Test cricket.
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Joseph, who in June was being used as a net bowler to the touring Australians in St Kitts and caught the eye of stand-in Australia coach Justin Langer (see video above), removed Virat Kohli (3) and Rohit Sharma (9) to finish the day with figures of 2-38 from 14 overs. This is the joint-most for India in an away series.
India made three changes from the Jamaica Test, bringing in Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Cheteshwar Pujara, Amit Mishra and Umesh Yadav, respectively.
India lead the four-match series 1-0, after winning the first Test in Antigua by an innings and 92 runs. The run-rate from the partnership was only 2.5, even lower than the innings rate of 2.6, as the two were bogged down by the slow outfield as well.
Rahul followed up his 158 from the second Test by reaching his half-century in 64 balls before falling to the next delivery when he flicked Chase straight into the waiting hands of short fine leg. Saha and Ashwin added 108 runs to help India recover from a poor start they made earlier.
India lost their fifth wicket just before tea when Ajinkya Rahane was bowled by Chase for 35, but Ashwin – who was caught off a Gabriel no-ball – and wicketkeeper Saha stemmed the flow of wickets before launching a fightback. If you look back in the past, we were leaking runs especially in Australia where we were going at 4-5 runs an over. The moisture in the pitch gave them spongy bounce when they pitched short, and some seam movement when they pitched it up.
Opener KL Rahul extended his good form from the last Test with exactly 50, while Ajinkya Rahane made a fighting 35. Only an outstretched gloved-hand to break his descent kept him from the turf. In the course of a session, West Indies had evolved from being a nobody in Test cricket to being a force to be reckoned with – and India were now firmly on the back foot.
After the top order left in the first two sessions of the day scoring 126 in 50 overs, Ashwin and Saha defied the combo attack by defending the wicket to build the innings from where Rahane left.
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Between the fall of Rahul and the claiming of the second new ball, only 111 runs came in 61.3 overs. An edge fell short here, another flew over slips there; a crisp drive was misfielded now, a bowler bowled a loose ball there, and India had 46 in the last nine overs to wrest the initiative a bit. But, it was not the numerology of the batting number that got Kohli out, it was a brute of a delivery from Alzarri Joseph, the 19-year-old fast bowler who had received his Test cap from Joel Garner, who specialised in just such snorters.
