At the end of the ongoing series, there is a good chance that India might be misled into thinking that Test matches are easy. So far, Virat Kohli's men have barely broken into a sweat and yet find themselves on the cusp of an insurmountable 2-0 series lead. Only 95 balls were bowled on Day 4, as Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra snapped up four wickets among them to leave the West Indies fighting to save the Test match on the final day. The hosts were at 48/4, trailing by 256 in the second innings.
A downpour was on the cards at Sabina Park and the batting that was on display showed lacked application, technique and judgement. Even a seasoned campaigner like Marlon Samuels got out cheaply. Darren Bravo, the most cultured batsmen in the side, never looked comfortable at the crease before falling to a snorter from Shami.
Ishant drew first blood as Rajendra Chandrika's tentativeness plotted his downfall, with the ball ricocheting off his bat onto his stumps. The Windies opener was caught in two minds and his halfhearted leave castled him. Kraigg Brathwaite and Bravo looked like they would stitch a semblance of a partnership. Just then, another lackadaisical effort gifted India the second wicket.
Brathwaite tried to pull an ordinary Mishra delivery, which was there for the taking, but got a meek top-edge because of a lack of follow through. KL Rahul ran back to take a neat catch. Shami rarely threatened in the early part of his spell, but the rain break did him a world of good, as Samuels was beaten all ends up and his off-stump taken off. Bravo then awkwardly tried to fend a vicious short ball and India's centurion had another catch to his name.
West Indies 196 (Jermaine Blackwood 62, Marlon Samuels 37; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/52, Mohammed Shami 2/23) and 48/4 (Kraigg Brathwaite 23, Darren Bravo 20; Mohammed Shami 2/25) trail India 500/9 declared (KL Rahul 158, Ajinkya Rahane 108 not out, Wriddhiman Saha 47, Roston Chase 5/121) by 256 runs.
