A dramatic day of cricket unfolded in Port of Spain as 19 wickets fell on day two of the unofficial Test between India A and West Indies A who were reduced 12 for 4 in the second innings at stumps on Thursday.
The hosts led by 140 runs with six wickets in hand at the end of day’s play but found the conditions extremely difficult to bat in. It was the same case for Indian batsmen as their team was bowed out for 190 in the first innings, handing West Indies A a 128-run lead.
They had added 12 more runs to the lead when they lost their captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who was caught behind off Sandeep Warrier in the fourth over. For the next 13 balls, West Indies A did not score a single run but lost three wickets to slip to 12 for 4.
Warrior removed Shamarh Brooks in the same over for a duck before Mohammed Siraj ended Montcin Hodge’s nine-ball innings for no run. Both the batsmen offered their catches to Priyank Panchal. Warrier came back in the sixth over to pick his third wicket in the form of Jomel Warrican and improved his figures to 3 for 3 from three overs.
Sunil Ambris and Jermaine Blackwood were the two unbeaten batsmen for West Indies A but both were yet to score a run.
Three Indian batsmen also failed to open their accounts in the first innings as West Indian bowler Chemar Holder took five wickets to run through the Indian top order.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, Hanuma Vihari and Anmolpreet Singh were the three victims of Holder’s top-class bowling after he had dismissed opener Mayank Agarwal in the first over itself.
Opener Priyank Panchal, however, was solid from the other end and scored a half-century to help India to a decent total. He was supported by allrounder Shivam Dube, who scored a quickfire 79 off 85 balls.
They shared a 124-run partnership for the sixth wicket to help India recover from 20 for 5 to 144 before Panchal was dismissed by Raymon Reifer for 58.
Indian added 46 more runs to the total from that point on and were eventually bowled out for 190 in response to West Indies A’s score of 318 in the first innings.
Romario Shepherd cleaned up the tail with three wickets including that of Dube in his 10 overs. Holder finished with figures of five for 54 from his 13 overs.
This was after West Indies had made 318 in their first innings after resuming the day at 243 for 5. The last five batsmen added 75 runs for them. Siraj and Mayank Markande picked up two while Warrior chipped in the first innings on day two.
Rakheem Cornwell remained unbeaten on 56 for West Indies A who are trailing the three-match series 0-1.