India recovered from a precarious 130/5 thanks to centuries from R Aswhin and Wriddhiman Saha, who put on 213 runs for the sixth wicket.
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India missed the opportunity for early success when Lokesh Rahul could not hold on to a diving attempt at second slip when Johnson edged a delivery from Mohammed Shami in the sixth over of the innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin celebrating his fourth Test century. India still had plenty of work to do, resuming on 234 for 5, and thankfully had two men at the crease with an appetite for hard work, the technique to execute and the discipline to take the game one ball at a time, on merit. After them, West Indies blew away the last three Indian wickets for just 14 runs to bring a quick end to their prolonged misery.
The two batsmen were helped in their endeavour to increase the scoring by some wayward bowling from Miguel Cummins and Gabriel, while skipper Jason Holder himself wasn’t too penetrative either.
It was just after the break that Saha and Ashwin moved to their hundreds, Saha’s first in Tests and Ashwin’s fourth.
Ashwin became the third Indian after Gundappa Viswanath and VVS Laxman to hit four hundreds against West Indies, surpassing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Dilip Sardesai, Navjot Sidhu, Chandu Borde, Mohinder Amarnath, Polly Umrigar and Kapil Dev.
There was one iffy leave that could have resulted in a wicket another day – the ball came in to hit his front pad, and ball-tracking suggested it may have hit off stump – but Saha was otherwise secure, the most impressive feature of his play the lateness – and closeness to his body – of his defensive play, particularly against the odd ball that jumped at him.
Twin centuries from Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha saved India the blushes on Day 2 as the visitors went on to post a respectable 353 runs.
He was replaced by Leon Johnson, who had played four Tests before this one and nearly immediately he looked like an upgrade from Chandrika, even when he was dropped on four by KL Rahul off the bowling of Mohammad Shami. He took 223 balls to reach the milestone. This is the first time Indian batsmen scored hundreds in the same innings at No. 6th and 7th positions. The two tormented the hosts with guty batting.
Starting Wednesday’s afternoon session on 316-5, the tourists soon lost Saha, caught behind off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph. At the time of going to print, West Indies was 12/0 in 6.3 overs.
India were duly made to toil in the field as Kraigg Brathwaite and Leon Johnson shared a patient opening stand of 59.
Ashwin’s two hundreds in three innings bodes well for India’s chances of winning this series and the all-rounder admitted that it was all thanks to his preparation prior to the series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar fended a short one from fast bowler Shannon Gabriel (2-84) to Johnson at short leg, Ashwin parried a Cummins snorter to Jermaine Blackwood at gully and Ishant lasted three balls in the same over before also being taken at short leg off another short-pitched delivery.
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Surviving the nervous nineties for too long and after getting stuck at 99 for six overs, Ashwin crossed the 100-mark in style by lofting a Roston Chase ball to six at long off in the 117th over of the innings, taking the score to 323 for 5 wickets.
