Dominant India in driver's seat, look set for a big win

A dominant India left a hapless West Indies on the verge of a possible innings defeat at 21 for one in their second innings after being asked to follow-on on the third day of the opening cricket Test, here.
After a brilliant display from the willow-wielders, Indian bowlers too joined the party and bundled out West Indies for 243 to take a huge first innings lead of 323 runs.
Returning from a one and a half year injury layoff, Mohammad Shami (4-66) and Umesh Yadav (4-41) took four wickets each to wreck the hosts, dismissing them for 243 with 13 overs still remaining in the day. But that was after Shane Dowrich (57 not out, 10 fours) and skipper Jason Holder (36) put on 69 runs for the eighth wicket.

India then enforced the follow-on. At stumps the hosts West Indies were placed at 21/1 in 13 overs in their second innings, still trailing by 302 runs after the visitors had finished their first innings at 566 for eight declared.
Earlier at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Dowrich and Holder looked good in the middle and kept the scoreboard ticking for the duration of their partnership, with the West Indies' 200-mark coming up in the 81st over and their 50-run stand coming off 80 balls.
The new ball was taken thereafter, with R Ashwin (0-43) starting but he soon gave way to Yadav and Shami. Dowrich meanwhile got to his second Test half-century off 75 balls, even as runs started flowing owing to the hardness of the new ball.

But it didn't last long as Yadav finally induced an edge off Holder in the 86th over, caught behind by keeper Wriddhiman Saha. It was his sixth dismissal of the innings and he equalled the Indian record held by both Farokh Engineer and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Yadav then bowled Carlos Brathwaite (0) off the very first ball, as the burly batsman shouldered arms to an incoming delivery. Amit Mishra (2-43) then ended the resistance and bowled Shannon Gabriel (2).
(REOPENS FGN 3)
Earlier, post lunch, it was an improved display by the Indian bowlers who looked to change their line and length from the morning. And the change could be seen almost immediately as Shami started proceedings after the break. He kept both Brathwaite (74 runs) and Marlon Samuels (1) guessing, inducing an edge off the latter in the 49th over.

Four deliveries later, it became a double blow, as Jermaine Blackwood (0) was unable to fend off a sharp rising delivery and was caught at gully by Ajinkya Rahane.
Thereafter a short partnership developed between Brathwaite and debutant Roston Chase (23) and they looked comfortable at the crease for the duration of their 47-run stand.
Brathwaite went on to score his 9th Test fifty off 156 deliveries, while the West Indies' 100-mark came up in the 51st over. Indian skipper Virat Kohli then went on the offensive and played around with his fielding combinations, putting in as many as five close-in catching positions for his pacers.

The trick worked as Yadav broke through, first dismissing Chase who was caught at midwicket with Kohli doing the necessary catching himself. Two overs later, the same aggressive fielding worked as Brathwaite was forced to fend off a short delivery instead of pulling it, and edged behind to keeper Wriddhiman Saha, who affected his fifth dismissal of the innings.
Ashwin could have had a wicket too, towards the end of the session as Shane Dowrich edged to Rahane at slip, but the ball was seen to have bounced on replay. Jason Holder was the other unbeaten batsman.
Earlier, West Indies reached 90/3 at lunch after Brathwaite had defied the Indian bowlers along with Devendra Bishoo (12). The duo put on 38 for the second wicket but more importantly frustrated the visitors by batting out 17.5 overs.

A team that was not rated highly upon its arrival in
India, this has been as good a series for Australia. Smith's gutsy twin hundreds, Nathan Lyon's lion-hearted spin bowling, Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscombe's coming of age batting have been the highlights so far.
It couldn't have been better that the final Test is being held at Dharamsala, where Jackson Bird looks likely to make the cut in place of Steve O'Keefe. O'Keefe was ineffective during the 77 overs that he bowled in the third Test in Ranchi.
Teams (from):
India: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Jayant Yadav.

Australia: Steve Smith (captain), Matt Renshaw, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscombe, Matthew Wade (wk), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Steve O'Keefe, Jackson Bird, Mitchell Swepson, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Usman Khwaja, Pat Cummins.
Match Starts 9:30 am.