Ashwin, Saha carry on to script India's turnaround

 

Resuming the day at 234 for five, India took control of the game in what was a second consecutive wicketless session for the West Indies.

 

The visitors have the upper hand in the game largely due to the efforts of Ashwin (99*) and Saha (93*), who batted out another session to stretch their partnership to 190 runs. India scored 82 runs in the two hours of play with 25 overs being bowled.

 

Both Saha and Ashwin once again looked sturdy and intent to play for time. The ball was still new, as Alzarri Joseph (2-54) and Shannon Gabriel (1-82) started off proceedings. But it seemed the pitch had calmed down a bit since day one as there was not much bite in the West Indies' bowling this morning.

 

Saha got to his third Test half-century off 135 balls, and thereafter India's 250-mark came up in the 97th over. But the two batsmen were still not looking to get on with the scoring rate as they looked to settle down and play a long innings that would give their team the upper hand once again.

 

They were helped in this endeavour by some wayward bowling from Miguel Cummins (0-54) and Gabriel, while skipper Jason Holder (0-34) himself wasn't too penetrative either.

 

Roston Chase (2-50) meanwhile persisted with his leg-stump line, bowling to a predominantly leg-side field to Ashwin, and thus looking to dry up the runs. The two batsmen didn’t mind as only 21 runs came in the first hour of play spanning 13 overs. However, in the second hour, the scoring rate finally picked up a bit as a more-confident Saha played some fine shots.

 

He wasn't too aggressive, but looked positive against the pacers and looked to attack Chase whenever possible, as he quickly caught up in the nervous 90s with his teammate. Ashwin though was dropped on 92*, as he hit Chase straight to Leon Johnson at short leg in the 110th over.

 

Thereafter he lingered on quite a bit, especially on 99*, and it helped bring up the 150-mark of the duo’s partnership off 358 deliveries. Previously, the Indian 300-mark had also come up in the 113th over.

 

Saha’s eagerness meant that 51 runs came off the last 10 overs going into the lunch break. But neither of the two batsmen could then go on to score their respective hundreds surprisingly enough, even as 82 runs came in this morning session.

 

On day one, the West Indies won the toss and elected to field. India was reduced to 130/5 at one stage, after which Ashwin and Saha rescued the innings with an unbeaten century stand.