Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane stood tall at the end of the third day as India ended the day strongly at 308/4, three runs short of the West Indies’ first innings total at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors could add just 16 more runs to their overnight total as Umesh Yadav wreaked havoc, running through the batting order and ending with six wickets for 88 runs, his best figures in international cricket.
India, in pursuit of that total, got off to a sedate start with Prithvi Shaw and KL Rahul putting on 62 runs before the latter’s poor run with the bat continued as he was once again dismissed cheaply. A length ball from opposition captain Jason Holder was misjudged by Rahul, who initially thought of leaving it but ended up dragging it onto his stumps.
His partner at the end was an exact opposite figure. Brimming with confidence after his maiden ton in his debut match, Shaw once again looked to be at his very best as he worked the bowlers for the singles and doubles and hit the boundaries as well as he raced to a fifty in just 39 deliveries.
But his blistering 70-run knock off 53 deliveries which had 11 fours and two sixes was brought to an end by Warrican.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s 41-ball stay for just 10 runs didn’t last long as well and very soon India found themselves a 102/3. But skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane added 60 runs together before the former fell to his counterpart for 45.
Rahane who hadn’t looked convincing in his past few outings for India in the whites batted with a sense of responsibility and stitched an unbeaten 146-run stand that took the fight out of the West Indies and once again took India to a place from where they can boss the game.
Pant meanwhile brought up his third 50+ score on the trot as he powered his way to a solid 85 off 120 balls with 10 fours and two sixes and would want to carry on in that manner on the fourth day as well.
Brief score: India 308/4 (Rishabh Pant 85*, Ajinkya Rahane 75*; Jason Holder 2/45) trail West Indies 311 all out (Roston Chase 106, Jason Holder 52; Umesh Yadav 6/88) by three runs
Image Source: The Economic Times