Ashwin and Rahul floor West Indies

India 126 for 1 (Rahul 75*) trail West Indies 196 (Blackwood 62, Ashwin 5-52) by 70 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details

Batting isn’t easy at Sabina Park. In 20 years, no ground has been quite as stingy in giving up Test match runs. Ask the local boy Marlon Samuels, who had to wait nearly 10 overs to get off the mark. Or the five Indian bowlers, who excelled after they were gifted first use of a pitch with live grass and considerable moisture. West Indies chose to bat and crumbled to 196 all out. Side note, R Ashwin secured his 18th five-wicket haul in 34 Tests.

Batting is not impossible at Sabina Park. It is the venue that gave cricket the number 365, with a little help from Sir Garry Sobers. It was where Brian Lara proved he wasn’t just the Prince of Trinidad but King of the World. West Indies do not have players of that calibre willing to play Tests at the moment, but with a little more conviction they could have been batting when the conditions were at their best for it. Instead they were all out in 51.3 overs and the final-session bounty went to KL Rahul, who was unbeaten on a brisk 75 off 114 balls. A fine knock from India’s back-up opener, marking his return to Test cricket after nearly a year.

The West Indian quicks pitched too full or too short or too wide. Their legspinner Devendra Bishoo began with three long hops. If there was a plan, its last step possibly read “execute at your own peril”. It didn’t help that when they did fool the batsman, luck wasn’t with them. Dhawan drove lazily outside off stump, twice, but neither carried to the fielders. Rahul, anxious to get the four runs he needed for a fifty, hit offspinner Roston Chase against the turn and was dropped by Darren Bravo at short midwicket. That both batsmen felt no need to temper themselves was perhaps an indication of what they thought of the opposition’s ability to pose a threat even on a helpful pitch. …

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