West Indies fights back against India on final day

West Indies reached 215/5 in their second innings at lunch on the final day to raise their hopes of drawing the second Test against India at the Sabina Park here on Wednesday. They had given India only a couple of wickets in the 88.1 overs of play and managed an improbable draw at Sabina Park after 18 years. But all those factors mattered. That’s no excuse, credit to the way West Indies played today.

“Creditable for someone playing his second Test match to bat through the day and save the game for his team, Kumble said of Chase in the post-match press conference”. I’m very happy with the effort put in by our bowlers, the former India skipper added. “He looked to attack when needed to and blocked literally every ball, so it kept our bowlers at bay, which was disappointing from the outside”.

West Indies are still trailing by 89 runs as Roston Chase (70) and Shane Dowrich (33) were at the crease at the break. We created some chances, but they didn’t go to hand.

India still lead the series 1-0 but will now know they are in a contest. In all, Hope has modest returns of 171 runs in 11 Test innings at 15.54 and a highest of 36, in his second Test against Australia in Roseau in June a year ago. The first four days the wicket was very active. “Yes, you strategize slightly differently”.

“We asked the guys to show fight at the beginning of the day and we got a really good partnership there with Jermaine and Roston”.

“I’m really happy for Shami because 18 months is a long time away from global cricket”.

Shami was impressive in his first spell of West Indies’ second innings, dismissing veteran batsman Marlon Samuels for a duck before sending Darren Bravo (20) back to the pavilion shortly with a bouncer delivery. Should have won the match.

When asked if a delayed declaration worked against India’s favour, Kumble said he did not think so. “Sometimes the opposition puts up a fearless challenge and that’s exactly what happened”, he added.

India were again frustrated by rain as they tried to push for victory on day four of the second Test against the West Indies in Jamaica.

Roston Chase scored a century and picked a five-wicket haul in the game.

“The plan was always to take wickets”. All told, he faced 269 deliveries in a knock lasting just shy of six hours and which included 14 fours and a six. So it was quite hard to get the purchase that we were getting yesterday and the conditions were different as well.