Again due to interruption of rain on the 4th day, but still India gets a lead of 183 runs in the 1st innings. In the 2nd innings Indian batters showed no mercy on the West Indies bowlers and played perfect Bazball cricket. In their 2nd innings they put up 181/2 and then declared the innings. Target for Caribbean is 364 runs and West Indies in reply to this put 76 runs on the board with the loss of 2 wickets.
West Indies without adding any runs to their day 3 score, lost their 1st wicket of the day. Athanaze was the 1st one who went out. Mukesh Kumar gets his wicket. He made 37 runs. (229-6). In the next over Siraj took the wicket of Holder. The ball took the edge of Holder’s bat and Ishan took an easy catch behind the stumps. He scored 15 runs. (233-7). Siraj again strikes by taking the wicket of Alzarri Joseph. Joseph only contributed with 4 runs. (244-8).
Then Roach was dismissed by Siraj. His inswinger took the edge of Roach’s bat and Ishan grabbed it easily. He scored 4 runs. (255-9). Then in the next ball, Siraj gets another one by dismissing the last batsman, Gabriel. He departed without scoring any runs. (255-10). West Indies only added only 26 runs to their day 3 score and lost the remaining 5 wickets in a hurry.
Siraj gets 5 wicket haul, while Mukesh Kumar and Jadeja took 2 wickets each. Ashwin settles with 1 wicket.
Since many overs were wasted due to rain, India’s destructive approach shows from the start. India reached 50 runs in just 6 overs, which is their fastest in Test history. For the 1st wicket Rohit and Jaiswal put together 98 runs in only 12 overs. Rohit was the 1st one to go. He made 57 runs in just 44 balls. Gabriel breaks that partnership. (98-1). In the next over, Warrican took the wicket of dangerous Jaisawal. He made 38 runs in 30 balls. (102-2).
Then Gill and Ishan contributed 79 runs for the 3rd wicket. Ishan scored his maiden fifty and made 52 runs in just 34 balls. Gill provided a contribution of 29 runs. India then declared the innings at 181 for the loss of 2 wickets. And get their lead extended to 364 runs.
Caribbeans again play in their defensive style. For the 1st wicket, Brathwaite and Chanderpaul made 38 runs in 18 overs. Then Ashwin took the wicket of Brathwaite and broke the partnership. He made 28 runs. (38-1). Then again Ashwin in his next over took Mackenzie out of the field. He couldn’t score any runs and went out on a duck. (44-2).
After that Chanderpaul and Blackwood remain unbeaten and survive till the end of the day. Chanderpaul is playing at 24 runs and Blackwood is at 20 runs. Ashwin took both the wickets.
On day 5, it is expected that rain will again disturb the play and might destroy many overs. Therefore India again will be in a hurry to get the remaining 8 wickets as early as possible. Whereas West Indies will try to be more defensive as they could.
Ishan Kishan, India Wicket-Keeper,
“Was really special. I knew what the team needed from me. Everyone backed me. Virat backed me and told me to go and play your game. Let’s hope we will finish the game tomorrow. It was Virat bhai who took the initiative and told me that I should go in. There was a slow left-armer who was bowling. It was a good call for the team. Sometimes you need to take these calls. We had the plan that we will play 10-12 overs after the rain break and score 70-80 runs. We wanted a 370-380 target.
….I was at NCA before this. Pant was also there. He knows how I play. We have known each other since under-19 days. I also wanted someone to advise me and luckily he was there to tell me something about my bat positioning. There are so many senior players who keep talking to the bowlers. It should be a good game tomorrow. We need to hit the right areas and it is important to get early wickets. It was one of my dreams to get into the whites. I just wanted to go in and hit every ball. Mostly thankful to my parents who have always supported me.”