Powered by their batsmen's first innings effort of 429 runs, the Windies kept the pressure on the home side with some fine bowling on a noticeably two-bounce pitch.
At close, India were 305 runs behind at 124 for 3 and will need plenty of pluck and determination to save this match over the next two days.
The mere pressure of chasing a mammoth total was always going to be a challenge. And so it proved. Additionally, Miguel Cummins confirmed that he was a fast bowler to watch.
The tall, wiry paceman, who bowls with an open-chested action reminiscent of past masters Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh, often brought the ball into the right-handed batsman and was sharp even on this pitch.
His lone wicket on the day was a prized one, that of skipper Cheteshwar Pujara who lead-edged a delivery that held its course to be caught at short covers.
Gujarat's Manpreet Juneja (47 n.o.) batted brilliantly to be at the wicket at close. In fact Juneja and Karnataka opener KL Rahul (46, 7x4) looked excellent prospects while they were together. Juneja, in particular, was a revelation.
The manner in which he came into line and worked the ball to the leg side spoke volumes of his batsmanship. He complemented these with his ability to drive on the off. His big knocks in the recent past stand testimony to his temperament.
Earlier, India's hopes of wrapping up the West Indies innings quickly were dashed by Assad Fudadin (86 n.o. 277 mins, 201b, 10x4, 1x6).
Off-spinner Parvez Rasool, who tossed the ball often and tried a variety of tricks, was the pick of the bowlers. He came away with a five-wicket haul (5-116) on a pitch that has deteriorated rapidly enough to worry India's batsmen.
Brief scores:
West Indies 'A' : 429 (Brathwaite 92, Edwards 91, Fudadin 86 n.o.; Rasool 5/116) vs India 'A': 124/3 (Juneja batting 47, Rahul 46).
0 comments:
Post a Comment