India vs Windies 2018, 1st Test Day 3, Tea: India Inches Closer to Gigantic Victory

India is on the verge of a massive victory, as they found themselves in a winning position against the Windies when tea was taken on day three in Rajkot.

However, Windies began the day’s play on 94/6 with Roston Chase and Keemo Paul coming out in the middle. Keemo smashed the Indian bowlers en route to his knock of 47 which studded with seven fours and a couple of sixes. Chase looked good and carried on from where he left the other day. He never seemed to go after the players and played the waiting game to perfection. Eventually, Windies were bowled out for 181 in their 1^st innings. They were asked to bat again, and their start was no better than the 1^st innings.

Kieran Powell looked in good touch. However, Windies lost their skipper, Kraigg Brathwaite before the lunch interval was taken. They went to lunch on 33/1 with Powell and Shai Hope at the crease. In the 2^nd session, it was left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav who ran through the Windies middle order. He bagged his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket and bowled quite brilliantly.

India on the verge of a victory courtesy an excellent spell by Kuldeep Yadav

Kieran Powell looked in pretty good touch and struck some excellent shots in the process. The visitors took the attacking approach and kept the scoring rate pretty high.

However, the wickets kept falling on a consistent basis which didn’t help them harbour any hopes of saving the Test match. Powell kept going and was nearing a century when Kuldeep dismissed him.

Roston Chase looked in good touch again but got dismissed by Kuldeep after he made 20. It was an exceptional piece of bowling by the chinaman bowler, as he kept chipping away with the wickets. Keemo Paul then came out in the field and struck some lusty blows before falling to Ravindra Jadeja.

The home team will look to seal the victory early in the final session. It has been a thoroughly professional performance by the home team who outclassed their opposition in all three departments of the game. Windies were just no match for India. It was pretty disappointing to see a team like Windies succumb so meekly.

Brief Scores 

India 1st innings 649/9 in 149.5 overs (Virat Kohli 139, Prithvi Shaw 134, Ravindra Jadeja 100*, Devendra Bishoo 4/217)

Windies 1st innings 181 all-out in 48 overs (Roston Chase 53, Ravichandran Ashwin 4/37)

Windies 2nd innings 185/8 in 44 overs (Kieran Powell 83, Kuldeep Yadav 5/57)

Windies trail by 283 runs