West Indies give Test series a new lease of life

For the eight days of cricket that had taken place in the Caribbean islands so far, India had pretty much dominated the proceedings throughout, steamrolling the West Indians in almost every department of the game. The rain that had eaten up around 5 hours of play on the fourth day of the second Test match at Jamaica, could have been the only saviour for West Indies, considering they had lost 4 wickets in just 15.5 overs of play. But as the sun shone bright over Sabina Park on the fifth morning, it pretty much erased even the slightest of doubt that India would extend their domination and bowl out West Indies to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four match series. But Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder had something else in their minds. The fight that was missing from the West Indian ranks made its presence felt on the fifth and final day. To say it was a one-man effort would be unfair to Blackwood, Dowrich and Holder. But Chase did put up a herculean effort, notching up an unbeaten 137 off 269 balls. To add to that, he had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, making him the only West Indian after Gary Sobers to score a ton and take five-for in the same Test match. Chase had an answer to everything. He looked solid while defending. He was convincing while attacking Ashwin and played as late as possible to counter Shami’s reverse swing. Starting the day at 48/4, West Indies ended at 388/6. 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. India dished out everything at them. Virat Kohli even tried to use verbal tactics to push Chase out of his comfort zone, but all of it fell on deaf ears. India was up against a resilient opposition, an opposition which had hardly opposed until now. To add to that, the job of the Indians was made difficult by an unlikely fifth day wicket of the Sabina Park that provided little assistance to the bowlers. Shami and Ishant ran in all day only to find the broad bat of Chase and Dowrich. It was not as if they were playing for time. Blakcwood scored a brisk 63 off 54 balls and Dowrich scored his 74 at a strike rate of 64.91. They really made the Indian bowlers sweat and provided a much-needed halt to the one way traffic. The sheer determination of the West Indian lower middle-order has given a new life to the series. Virat has a lot to think before the two teams again turn up at Gros Islet on August 9 for the third Test.