WI v IND, 2nd Test Day 4 Review: India close in on win despite heavy rain

If the rain on Day 3 was not frustrating enough for the India, the thunderstorms on Day 4 painted somewhat of a premature preview of the fact that the result would likely be in favor of the West Indies. However, the Indians would certainly not be too mindful of the rain as the West Indies batsmen once more danced to the tune of the Indian pacers. With 16 odd overs bowled in the day’s play, the Indian pacers in the form of Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma rattled the West Indies top order yet again as they claimed four wickets. The Indians are clearly in a winning position at the moment as they now face the prospect of claiming a win should they pick the six wickets required.

Day three began with the West Indies coming out to bat in the second innings of the match. The previous day had seen Ajinkya Rahane complete a wonderful century and also remaining unbeaten in the process as well. Moreover, the fact of the matter was that the Windies faced the uneasy prospect of an innings defeat yet again as they now found themselves batting for the second time in the match and 304 runs adrift of the lofty total set by the Indians.

The day began on a poor note as Rajendra Chandrika was cleaned up by Ishant Sharam in just the third over of the day’s play when his attempted leave clipped the bails of the off stump as Chandrika retired to the haven of the pavilion, pondering his batting approach in the future matches of the ongoing series. Clearly rattled, Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo went about making attempts to stitch a partnership.

However, Virat Kohli, as he has done numerous times in this series took the aggressive route and brought on spin early on in the innings. This time, it was Kraigg Brathwaite who was the unfortunate guinea pig as he played down the wrong line with KL Rahul completing the catch. With Brathwaite, the vice-captain gone for a difficult 23, Marlon Samuels soon followed.

In spite of playing on his home ground, Samuels failed to tickle the scorers as he was soon dismissed for naught when Mohammad Shami breached his defenses to claim his first wicket of the innings. Darren Bravo’s problems with the short-pitched delivery continued as Mohammad Shami once again used it to good effect as the younger Bravo looked all at sea whilst playing the short-pitched delivery. He was dismissed for what became the final ball of the day before the heavens eventually opened up, thus bringing an abrupt end to the day’s play.

Although things looked unlikely for an Indian victory, the resident weatherman had some good news for them. “Tropical Storm EARL ‘s current location (as of 2pm EDT) is approx 340 km S of Grand Cayman and is moving W at 35 km/h. Jamaica should be clear of TS conditions very soon.”

Brief Scores

West Indies, 1st innings: 196 all out (Blackwood 62; Ashwin 5/52)

India, 1st innings: 500/9 dec (Rahul 158; Chase 5/121)

West Indies, 2nd innings: 48/4 (Brathwaite 23; Shami 2/25) trail by 256 runs.