West Indies were facing the prospect of another huge series-opening defeat at 21 for one in their second innings at stumps, a deficit of 302 runs, after being forced to follow-on on the third day of the first Test against India on Saturday.
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Samuels scored freely, compiling his score nearly entirely in boundaries as he smacked nine fours off 51 balls, while opener Chandrika was more circumspect.
“We want to create winning habits, good habits”. Their pacers are in fine form and if a dry surface greets the teams at any of these three venues, they have three specialist spinners waiting to come into play.
Antigua: Ravichandran Ashwin after scoring a century in previous inning, did wonders again but this time with the ball after grabbing five wickets again West Indies.
“So it was good to get some rest in the evening, and the bowlers’ attitude was very good, all of them voluntarily said, yes, we will bowl, and the spinners took the responsibility”, said the skipper. Sandeep Patil asked me if I could hit a six through the innings and I said playing five batsmen, I can’t hit sixes. “It was a decent knock in the first innings but I would have loved to go on”, said Brathwaite at the close of play. “We just need to be confident but not complacent and not overconfident”.
Umesh Yadav took the wicket of Darren Bravo in the first over of the morning session before Samuels joined Chandrika for a 67-run stand.
“If you think we are going to keep learning every series, learning every game, we will never get that hunger and that mindset to win games from hard situations”. Dowrich counter-attacked superbly in getting to an unbeaten 57 with 10 boundaries by the time the innings folded, Umesh dispensing with Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite off successive balls before Mishra completed the job by bowling a heaving Shannon Gabriel.
This was his first seven-wicket haul outside India.
While admitting it was always tough to play catch-up cricket, the 24-year-old insisted his side failed to sustain partnership for longer period, the area which they need to improve as a side going forward.
Then came the best moment for Ashwin, as a attractive delivery beat Samuels’ straight bat and knocked back his off-stump in the 42nd over.
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Having made 113 with the bat in India’s 566 for eight declared, the off-spinner then tore into the Windies’ batting line-up in Antigua. It also happens that you take the top-order wickets quickly, so you become a little desperate to keep taking wickets, and forget the things that got you those initial wickets. “As the ball got softer and softer, it was very hard to get the ball going. Also, he told I had to slow down at the crease, gave me different ideas about what lines to bowl to batsmen”, he concluded. If that is anything to go by, then we can expect the Indian think-tank to go with the same set of bowlers that played in the first Test. We are all looking to make a mark in the global circuit.
