Starting the afternoon session on 316-5, the tourists soon lost Saha, caught behind off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph.
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Joseph, the star performer for the West Indies Under-19’s in their World Cup triumph in Bangladesh last February, proved to be a sensible inclusion as he and Shannon Gabriel exploited the helpful bowling conditions in the first hour of the match.
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.
Having batted through nine overs to reach tea without loss, the West Indies top order remained patient in the evening session.
India has made three changes in the side with Ravindra Jadeja, Buvneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma replacing Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara.
First up then, Saha got to his third Test half-century off 135 balls, and thereafter India’s 250-mark came up in the 97th over.
While this apparent push for quick runs resulted in a batting failure, West Indies were not behind in making unusual moves.
Three of those wickets went to Miguel Cummins, who finished with figures of 3-54 including the wicket of Ashwin for 118 and Ishant Sharma (0), who was the last man to fall with the score on 353. He already had two tons against the Islanders before the series began, but he has turned out to be one of India’s best batsmen in this series. But it seemed the pitch had calmed down a bit since day one as there was not much bite in the West Indies’ bowling this morning. At 23, Johnson took off for a non-existent run but found himself short of the crease after Rahul’s sharp throw from short mid-wicket rattled the timber at the non-striker’s end.
St. Lucia, Aug 10: India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar has heaped praise on star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for his valuable contribution with the bat at No.6 at a crucial time in the ongoing Test series against the West Indies. It was the signal of a West Indies comeback in the third Test.
The right-handed Ashwin survived two chances to strike four fours off 190 deliveries, while Saha, dropped on 20 by Leon Johnson at forward short leg off Chase, has faced 122 balls and counted four fours.
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Though Rahane tried to build the innings with Ashwin, he was bowled by all-rounder Roston Chase with a brilliant full toss that swung into the wicket in the 50th over after he scored a paltry 35 in 133 balls with four fours.
