Innings West Indies 117 (Hetmyer 34, Bumrah 6-27, Shami 2-34) trail India 416 by 299 runs
India took just over an hour to end West Indies’ innings on the third day, with Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja splitting the last three wickets between them. West Indies were bowled out for 117, 299 behind India’s 416, but with a little over eight sessions to go in the Test, they decided not to enforce the follow-on.
West Indies overnight batsmen started the day getting beaten and edging at balls outside off, with most runs coming in that fashion. But the runs – or indeed any attempts at scoring shots – were as scarce for debutants Jahmar Hamilton and Rahkeem Cornwall as they had been during the lead up to stumps on Saturday. Eventually, Mohammed Shami got a sharp, well-directed bouncer up at Cornwall’s throat and had him fending from underneath it. He could manage to get his gloves on it from that position, a gentle lob for Ajinkya Rahane to hold on to coming in from gully.
Kemar Roach, among West Indies’ most confident batsmen in this series so far, looked it when he came out. He consistently got behind the line of the ball in defence, and even went after overpitched deliveries outside off with conviction. That resulted in stylish square drives off both Jasprit Bumrah and Shami, with a neat tuck through midwicket sandwiched in between. Through the entire opening sequence, for almost 10 overs, Hamilton added no runs to his overnight score of 2.
Off his second over of the day, Ishant Sharma got one to lift from the corridor past Kemar Roach’s outside edge. While there was neither a discernible sound or deviation, India lost their review trying to overturn that not-out decision.
Ishant got his first wicket of the innings in his next over, though. Hamilton’s 57-ball 3, an exercise in survival, ended with an outside edge as he went with his trusted forward block. Virat Kohli had no problem holding on to it at third slip, low to his left.
Just before the hour mark, India had brought on Ravindra Jadeja, who showed prodigious turn in his very first over. It was him who finally ended the innings, getting Roach to slice one to cover from wide outside off. With the turn he extracted activating a potential fourth menacing bowling option for India, and a lead of 299, a follow-on wouldn’t have been out of the question in Kohli’s mind. But conditions have been humid and sapping fast bowlers all through the match, and that might have played on the India captain’s mind.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo