Spinners execute Windies mauling inside three days

Sat, Oct 6, '18

You know something is terribly amiss when on the breakfast table the discussion is about rescheduling travel plans out of Rajkot and not the match (read mismatch) at hand. Only less than 24 hours ago, the Windies bowling coach Corey Collymore had claimed that the team will not surrender, but the amusing manners in which their batsmen threw the wickets away reflected nothing but just that. It took India a little over two sessions of play and a little more than two bowlers to walk away with 14 wickets as the hosts humiliated the Windies in a massive innings and 272-run thwarting, on Saturday (October 6).

Of course, it doesn't help when you are staring at a 555-run deficit with full three days remaining in the Test. So when Keemo Paul, the overnight batsman alongside Roston Chase, came out to bat on the third morning, his plans were clear. He didn't have a defence to survive against the trickery of the Indian spin troika and thus he went about playing as many shots he could, and loot whatever runs were there to be taken. He timed his slog sweeps sweetly, most of the times brutally, as Kuldeep Yadav was left scratching his head. However, Mohammed Shami running in from the other end, was in full control but without the luck he needed, as he swerved the ball in and away from the batsman to see edges rolling past gully for four or to whizz past the stumps. As many eight fours were struck in the first 30 minutes of play as Paul and Chase brought up their fifty-run stand. But just as Paul looked like getting to an entertaining fifty, skipper Virat Kohli brought in Umesh Yadav to bounce him out for 47.