At 19 for two, the Indians needed a rear-guard action and they got this from Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul.
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R avichandran Ashwin reached his centry with a six off Roston Chase immediately after lunch to register his fourth century in his Test career.
The duo’s impressive 213-run stand steadied the ship for the tourists and guided them to a decent target of 353 all out before the hosts made 107 for the loss of one wicket in reply at stumps.
Alzarri Joseph in his maiden Test got three wickets in India’s first innings and gave away 69 runs in 24 overs, six of which were maiden.
Cummins went wicket-less in his maiden Test in Jamaica, and bowled 281 deliveries before picking up his first wicket in worldwide cricket, that of Ravindra Jadeja.
Four last Indian batsmen Ravindra Jadeja (6), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0), Mohammed Shami (0) and Ishant Sharma (0) failed to make any contribution. He has been a fabulous team player and is willing to do anything required of him.
Earlier, starting at the overnight score of 234/5, the two batsmen once again looked sturdy and intent to play for time. The pair showed a particular liking for the short ball, happily hanging back and pulling in front of square to get their side off to a decent start.
Yet even as the score slowed to a crawl for much of the session, West Indies captain Jason Holder just could not conjure the breakthrough even as he rotated his four frontline bowlers along with the off-spin of Chase, which has become an increasingly important element of the home side´s limited armoury in the series. Both Ashwin and Saha went on to slam centuries. Sixty-one came in the second hour as opposed to 21 in the first.
Ashwin though was dropped on 92*, as he hit Chase straight to Leon Johnson at short leg in the 110th over. Previously, the Indian 300-mark had also come up in the 113th over.
However, the departure of Saha – shortly after India’s wicketkeeper had brought up his maiden global hundred – triggered a dramatic collapse, which saw Virat Kohli’s men slump from 339-5 to 353 all out, Miguel Cummins taking 3-54.
Three overs later, Saha too hit his maiden Test hundred with two runs of a Chase ball to the cover drive in the 121st over, taking the overall score to 332 for 5.
On day one, the West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
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India are now leading the four-match Test series 1-0 following their massive win by an innings and 92 runs against the Windies in the opening match at Antigua.
