It was a day of inswingers and outswingers. After a gap of 6 months Bhuveshwar kumar found a place in the eleven and justified his inclusion.The Uttar Pradesh seamer ripped apart the brittle West Indian middle order. Wickets started to tumble and they slipped from 202-3 to 225 all out. Bhuvi finished with figures of 5 for 33.
Bravo and Brathwaite started off cautiously. The former played some fascinating strokes with control and elegance. But it didn’t last long as he fell while trying to hook a short delivery off Ishant to find deep square leg. Brathwaite too departed quickly nicking one-off Ashwin to Saha. West Indies were in a spot of bother. Samuels along with blackwood steadied the ship with a 50 run partnership.
Post lunch everything turned upside down. Bhuveshwar was given the new ball and he started asking questions from the very first delivery. Blackwood was the first to go nicking one to Kohli at second slip followed by Samuels. He had no clue as he inside edged one to dislodge the bails. Jadeja impressive with his accuracy got his reward in the form of Roston Chase. The previous test match centurion edged one to Rahane who dived and held the ball cleanly.
The lower middle order succumbed to Kumar as the wickets started falling like raindrops. Ashwin too joined the party as he and Kumar finished things off before tea to give a lead of 128 runs. The Indian innings started off brightly as both the openers played some attacking lofted shots to make the lead swell. The 19 year old seamer Miguel Cummins striked first as he made Rahul play a false defensive shot to second slip.
The skipper didn’t last long as he became second victim to Cummins. Dhawan was looking good until he tried to play a ondrive only to be adjudged LBW off Chase.India were reeling at 75-3.Rahane along with Rohit joined forces as the Mumbai duo played with some controlled aggression. Rohit stepped down the track and lofted the spinners over the fence while Rahane played some scintillating stokes.The duo added 82 runs to finish the day at 157-3.