At close on the second day of the four-day second unofficial Test against West Indies 'A', India 'A' were 191 for three in reply to their rivals' challenging total of 406.
Indian fightback came from unexpected quarters on Thursday. While the focus was on Sehwag, in particular, and Gambhir, not to forget skipper Pujara, it was the little-known opening batsman from Kerala, VA Jagadeesh (79 n.o, 172 balls, 8 fours) and a rampaging Abhishek Nayar (56 n.o, 38 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) of Mumbai who stole the thunder.
Their unbroken 77-run fourth wicket stand in 65 minutes has given the home team fresh hope.
Nayar was in his elements. He came out all guns blazing and hungrily lapped up the fare dished out by the left-arm spinners. The left-hander essayed a series of lofted strokes between mid-wicket and square-leg that brought him quick runs and eased the pressure.
The Windies went defensive in an attempt to stem the torrent of runs as Nayar raced to his 50 off just 28 deliveries.
Jagdeesh looked more assured than his opening partner Gambhir who pottered around in an ungainly fashion for close to an hour. Gambhir (11) and Pujara (25) both fell to skied shots off left-arm spinners Veerasammy Perumal and Nikta Miller respectively.
Sehwag was a letdown. He looked like he wanted to dominate the bowling from the word go and even if that excited the gallery, it did not look prudent for a batsman making a comeback on this slow pitch. He got out in a most clumsy manner when he stepped out to a wide delivery from Perumal and then frantically attempted to slash the ball as it went past him for the wicket-keeper to effect an easy stumping.
In the morning, the West Indies furthered their cause with a lot of adventurous batsmanship against an attack that did not get the requisite support from the field.
Overnight batsmen Leon Jhonson and Miller made 91 and 64 respectively even as left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt covered himself with glory with a haul of 7 for 113.
Brief scores: West Indies 'A' 406 (Johnson 91, Miller 64 n.o., Bhatt 7-113) vs India 'A' 191/3 (Jagadeesh 79 n.o., Nayar 56 n.o., Pujara 25, Gambhir 11, Sehwag 7).
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