At close on a listless penultimate day's play, West Indies 'A'- who were handed a 47-run lead - were 28 without loss in the second innings of the second unofficial Test at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering ground.
It was the fact that the Caribbean Calypsos were flat. They could barely stir themselves to peg back the Indian batsmen on a slow, lifeless pitch. Perhaps the announcement of the main West Indies team to tour India in November had drained the spirit out of the team.
Five of the present 'A' team players are in the squad, including frontline bowler Veerasammy Permaul and batting all-rounder Narsing Deonarine. Permaul bowled a mere nine overs in two spells.
Significantly, the West Indies summoned the second new ball only after they had bowled 110 overs with the first. The new cherry was shared by spinner Deonarine and part-time bowler Assad Fudadin. Fast bowler Fidel Edwards, who was not selected in the main Test team, was not utilized to bowl a single over despite being on the field. These options were a clear indicator of the Caribbean mindset.
This morning, a lot of interest was on the progress of overnight batsmen VA Jagadeesh and Abhishek Nayar. But neither was destined to make a century. Jagadeesh (86; 258m, 198b, eight fours) was yorked by paceman Miguel Cummins while Nayar (89; 146m, 88b, 9 fours, 2 sixes) was trapped in front as he attempted a reverse sweep against left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.
Perhaps a more lively pitch would have been ideal to test the aspirants. But in its absence a draw is a foregone conclusion.
Brief scores: West Indies 'A' 406 & 28/0 vs India 'A' 359 (Jagadeesh 89, Nayar 89, Kaul 64 n.o.; Cummins 3/58, Fudadin 2/23).
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