When Roston Chase conceded over 100 runs in his debut Test in Antigua without any success, he was quickly written off. It didn’t take much time on the social media for his ‘bowling century’ figures to get highlighted. What was forgotten was the fact that the batting all-rounder was up against one of the best lineups in the world. In the second Test, Chase shut down his critics, earned new followers and most importantly handed West Indies a new lease of life with his resilient unbeaten 137 in 269 balls to go with his five-for in the first innings which enabled the home team to secure an improbable draw. The last time such a feat was recorded by a West Indies player was 50 years ago when Sir Garry Sobers did it against England at Headingley.
Staring at a defeat when play resumed on 48/4, West Indies No. 5, Jermaine Blackwood (62), No. 6, Chase, No. 7, Shane Dowrich (74) and No. 8 Jason Holder (64 not out) each scored a half-century to take West Indies to 388/6 in 194 overs. Chase batted through the day, denying the visitors a 2-0 lead in the series.
The Indian bowlers tried hard in the morning session but with no moisture in the wicket and clear blue sky, purchase from the pitch was minimum. Just two wickets fell in the first two sessions. Umesh Yadav later got the ball to reverse, but the home team managed to tackle that as well.
India Head Coach Anil Kumble gave full credit to the home team for their fighting effort on the final day to save the Test, but rued the fact that four sessions were lost due to rain. On the fourth day, India claimed four wickets in just 15.5 overs of play. “Obviously, we wanted to win this Test match. Yesterday, I thought, we were in a very good position and credit to the West Indies batsmen, the way they batted.
“Yesterday, the time lost was very crucial for us, because we were in great momentum and the conditions were such that it could have been different if we had probably bowled yesterday. There was loss of play; more than 100 overs in this Test match. But all those factors mattered. In the end, credit to the West Indian batsmen, how they batted today and their application as well.”
Asked if India could have declared early keeping in mind the rain threat, Kumble said key decisions should not be made according to weather forecasts. “You can't really look at the forecast and take decisions. If you looked at the forecast on Day 3, it was supposed to rain the whole day, and even Day 4 it was supposed to rain. So you can't really look at the forecast and decide what you need to do. Yes, you strategise slightly differently.
“It's all nice to now sit and say when we should have declared and what if, but I thought we played really good cricket, we were dominant right throughout and today, you know the change in momentum happened and credit to the West Indian batsmen. You obviously feel from the position we were in that we should have probably wrapped up the Test match, but having said that this is certainly something that happens in a Test match. You have times when the opposition puts up a brave challenge and that's exactly what happened.”
The former India captain said the way the final day panned out, taught a few things to the young team. “The approach that we want to win does not change at any stage. But, there's plenty to learn from this game. When you bowl on the last day, trying to win a match and get only two wickets bowling almost 90 overs, you will learn things. We will sit and talk about this, the game has just ended and we have five days before the next Test. We will talk about all these things.”
While India did well to run through the top-order, the lower-order posed problems. Kumble said the team will look at ways to get rid of the tail quickly. “There's nothing as tail or top order. You try and put together a plan for every batsman. You try and execute that. What we have done really well is knock the top off really quickly. That is certainly something we will discuss, as to how we get the last three or four. At the end of it, it's about picking 20 wickets. I'm very happy with the effort put in by our bowlers.”
