India vs Windies: Roston Chase leads fight back after another top-order slide

Led by a gritty and a defiant 98* from off-spinner all-rounder Roston Chase, the West Indies ended the first day of the second Test match with a decent 295/7 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday.

This innings of his is a gentle reminder that he had been the lone warrior against India two years back when he came up with a similar inning -137 runs – to deny India a win.

He did it here again and on the facet of a quality spin bowling, his defiance was the only positive that the West Indies could take away – after the top-order was dismissed for just 113 runs.

Much like the last innings of the first Test in Rajkot, it was chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav who created problems for the visitors after skipper Jason Holder won the toss and decided to put some runs on the board.

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Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell could only manage an opening stand of 32 runs before their time cut short when the left-hander misread a delivery from Ashwin. Powell had initially stepped outside, planning to hit it out of the park but Ashwin dragged it short and all the southpaw could do was chip it to Jadeja at cover.

Brathwaite was the next man to depart when a Kuldeep Yadav delivery landed on off-stump to spin back in, beating the inside edge. Reviews showed the ball would go on to hit the middle and off stump and the visitors all of sudden found themselves at 52/2 from being 32/0.

The slide continued and it was delayed only by a gap of 34 runs when Umesh Yadav beat Shai Hope for pace as the ball hit the knee-roll and Hawkeye revealed that it would have gone on to crash into the leg-stump. India had struck right at a time when the visitors were gaining a fair amount of momentum.

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When the script looked all too similar with them now struggling at 113/5, skipper Jason Holder joined hands with Chase and staged a fightback–one which has to be remembered as one of the best efforts from their team in recent times

The duo stitched a 104-run stand–where Holder was the dominant of the two as he scored 52 of 92 deliveries before leaving the battlefield for Chase to take over.

And he didn’t disappoint. He defiantly held on to his wicket and never did look as if he would be dismissed as he slowly brought the hosts back into the contest, ending the day on a decent note.

The day was more frustrating for the Indians as they found it really tough to get past the lower-order and dominate again. Despite an unsuccessful end, their efforts should be lauded as they were a man short with Shardul Thakur, who after a two-year wait finally made his Test debut – which lasted for just 10 balls as he had walk off the field, complaining of a groin problem.

Brief score: West Indies 295/7 (Roston Chase 98, Holder 52, Kuldeep Yadav 3/74)

Image Source: India TV