GROS ISLET: Rain washed out the entire morning session on the third day of the third Test between the West Indies and India on Thursday.

The forecast did not look promising for the rest of the day, with West Indies waiting to continue its second innings.

On Wednesday, the hosts were on 107-1, trailing India by 246 runs, with Kraigg Braithwaite on 53 and Darren Bravo on 18.

India were bowled out for 353 in its first innings following a lower order collapse. Wriddhiman Saha (104) and Ravichandran Ashwin (118) helped the tourists recover from a poor start.

Reinforcing his affection for Caribbean bowling, Ashwin reached his fourth Test century and second in three matches in the series with a six off off-spinner Roston Chase.

All four of his three-figure scores in the traditional format of the game have come against the West Indies.

Saha followed shortly after in getting to the landmark, his first in Test cricket, but fell shortly after for 104. Chasing a wide delivery from Alzarri Joseph, the wicketkeeper-batsman edged a catch to his West Indian counterpart Shane Dowrich to give the debutant fast bowler his third wicket of the innings.

His innings occupied just over five hours in which he faced 227 deliveries in an effort embellished with 13 fours. Saha’s partnership with Ashwin was a new Indian record for the wicket in Tests against the West Indies, eclipsing the 170 posted by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri in 1983 in Chennai.

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Innings):

L. Rahul c Brathwaite b Chase 50 S. Dhawan c wkpr Dowrich b Gabriel 1 V. Kohli c Bravo b Joseph 3 A. Rahane b Chase 35 R. Sharma c Dowrich b Joseph 9 R. Ashwin c Blackwood b Cummins 118 W. Saha c Dowrich b Joseph 104 R. Jadeja c Dowrich b Cummins 6 B. Kumar c Johnson b Gabriel 0 M. Shami not out 0 I. Sharma c Johnson b Cummins 0

EXTRAS (B-7, LB-8, W-2, NB-10) 27

TOTAL (129.4 overs, all out) 353

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9 (Dhawan), 2-19 (Kohli), 3-77 Rahul), 4-87 (R. Sharma), 5-126 (Rahane), 6-339 (Saha), 7-351 (Jadeja), 8-353 (Kumar), 9-353 (Ashwin).

BOWLING: S. Gabriel 23-4-82-2 (7nb, 1w), A. Joseph 24-6-69-3, M. Cummins 21.4-8-54-3 (1w), J. Holder 19-7-34-0 (1nb), R. Chase 33-9-70-2, K. Brathwaite 9-1-27-0

WEST INDIES (1st Innings):

K. Brathwaite not out 53 L. Johnson run out 23 D. Bravo not out 18

EXTRAS (B-9, W-2, NB-2) 13

TOTAL (47 overs, 1 wkt) 107

FALL OF WKT: 1-59 (Johnson)

TO BAT: M. Samuels, J. Blackwood, R. Chase, S. Dowrich, J. Holder, M. Cummins, A. Joseph, S. Gabriel

BOWLING: B. Kumar 11-4-11-0 (2w), M. Shami 9-1-35-0, R. Ashwin 13-4-17-0, I. Sharma 7-0-26-0 (2nb), R. Jadeja 7-2-9-0

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2016