Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha struck fine hundreds before India suffered a batting collapse to be 353 all out in the second session on day two of the third Test against the West Indies here today.
India lost their last five wickets for 37 runs after Ashwin (118) and Saha (104) forged a 213-run stand for the sixth wicket to get their team out of a difficult situation. In response to their first innings total, the West Indies were 16 for no loss at tea, trailing by 337 runs.
Post lunch, Ashwin and Saha returned to the crease in search of their respective milestones. And soon after the break, they got there one by one, though in contrasting styles. Ashwin had spent 14 deliveries on 99*, but finally broke free and smacked Roston Chase (2-70) over midwicket for a six to reach his fourth Test hundred, off 265 balls, and indeed his fourth against the same opposition.
He joined a select group of players - Richie Benaud (vs South Africa in 1957-58), Tony Greig (vs West Indies in 1973-74) and Ian Botham (vs Australia in 1981) - to take multiple five-wicket hauls and score multiple hundreds in the same Test series.
At the other end, Saha too reached his maiden Test hundred off 223 balls, and in doing so, the duo brought up their 200-run stand. The keeper-batsman couldn't go on for long though, edging Alzarri Joseph (3-69) behind soon after, bringing an end to the mega 213-run partnership that saved India the blushes.
Ravindra Jadeja (6) came to the crease and hit a couple lusty blows, but was dismissed by Miguel Cummins (3-54), caught behind, the fast bowler taking 281 deliveries for his first Test wicket. But this was the start of a 10-ball burst from the bowler, taking three wickets in all, as he wrapped up the Indian tail. Ashwin (118 runs, 297 balls, 6 fours) was finally caught at gully off him in the 130th over, and Ishant Sharma (0) was bounced out, with Shannon Gabriel (2-84) dismissing Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0) at the other end.
With just about 35 minutes to go, West Indies had to face the new ball for a short time but Leon Johnson (8*) and Kraigg Brathwaite (8*) were upto the task. Johnson was given a life on 4* when Lokesh Rahul dropped him at second slip off Mohammed Shami (0-12), and the batsmen played out the rest of the session with relative ease. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-4) was the other bowler deployed.
(REOPENS FGN 42)
Earlier, starting at the overnight score of 234/5, the two batsmen once again looked sturdy and intent to play for time. The ball was still new, as Joseph and Gabriel started off proceedings. But it seemed the pitch had calmed down a bit since day one as there was not much bite in the West Indies' bowling this second morning.
First up then, Saha got to his third Test half-century off 135 balls, and thereafter India's 250-mark came up in the 97th over. But the two batsmen were still not looking to get on with the scoring rate as they looked to settle down and play a long innings that would give their team the upper hand once again. They were helped in this endeavour by some wayward bowling from Cummins and Gabriel, while skipper Jason Holder (0-34) himself wasn't too penetrative either.
Chase meanwhile persisted with his leg-stump line, bowling to a predominantly leg-side field to Ashwin, and thus looking to dry up the runs. The two batsmen didn't mind as only 21 runs came in the first hour of play spanning 13 overs. However in the second hour of this morning session, the scoring rate finally picked up a bit as a more-confident Saha played some fine shots.
He wasn't too aggressive, but looked positive against the pacers and looked to attack Chase whenever possible, as he quickly caught up in the nervous 90s with his teammate.
Ashwin though was dropped on 92*, as he hit Chase straight to Johnson at short leg in the 110th over. Thereafter he lingered on quite a bit, especially on 99*, and it helped bring up the 150-mark of the duo's partnership off 358 deliveries. Previously, the Indian 300-mark had also come up in the 113th over.
Saha's eagerness meant that 51 runs came off the last 10 overs going into the lunch break, a second session without any loss of wickets for India. But neither of the two batsmen could then go on to score their respective hundreds surprisingly enough, even as 82 runs came in this morning session.
On day one, the West Indies won the toss and elected to field. India were reduced to 130/5 at one stage, after which Ashwin-Saha rescued the innings with an unbeaten century stand.
