On the fourth day of the second and last test, which took place on Sunday, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets, but the West Indies showed some measure of resistance by reaching 76 for two after being handed a daunting winning goal of 365. The match was the second and final one.
Mohammed Siraj earned a 183-run advantage for his team by scything through the bottom part of the host side’s first innings in the morning on a day that was packed with activity at Queen’s Park Oval in between brief, sharp rains. The day’s action took place at Queen’s Park Oval.
The fast declaration of India’s second innings at 181 for two after just 24 overs was made possible as a result of blistering half-centuries scored by the team’s captain, Rohit Sharma, and wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan.
After removing home leader Kraigg Brathwaite with a top-edged sweep, Ashwin next had rookie Kirk McKenzie leg before wicket without scoring. Ashwin was the destroyer of the West Indies in the first Test that was played in Dominica, finishing with an 11-wicket match total.
However, the obstinate Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who took after his legendary father Shivnarine in many ways, remained till the end of the match with vice captain Jermaine Blackwood.
Given the better experience, competence, and confidence of an Indian team aiming for a 2-0 series sweep at the beginning of the new World Test Championship cycle, a goal of 289 more runs on a final day surface should be a step too much for the Caribbean side.
The West Indies went from their overnight position of 229 for five to 255 all out, with their last five wickets falling for only 26 runs. Siraj captured the last four wickets to conclude with his best Test figures of five for 60. The weather were humid as the day began.
After that, Sharma took the initiative to score runs by scoring 50 runs off of 35 balls before lunch.
In the end, he was out for 57, and his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal was out for an equally aggressive 38 in the three overs that were bowled during the afternoon session. In the end, both of them were out.
That was the signal for Kishan to play his natural game, and the left-hander did not disappoint, slamming an unbeaten 52 off of 34 balls with four fours and two sixes to adorn his first Test half-century. Kishan’s performance was his first ever in a test match.
At the conclusion of a particularly lengthy final session, Kishan was overheard saying something along the lines of, “I knew what the team needed from me in a short span of time, and the backing of Virat Kohli really relaxed me to play my game.”
“The implementation of the plan is the most essential thing tomorrow. Tomorrow is about showcasing what all of our preparation for this series was about. We have very excellent bowlers and older players who constantly provide guidance, but they aren’t in a terrible situation either, so tomorrow is about displaying what all of our preparation was about.
Mukesh Kumar, who was making his debut as a fast bowler and who opened the floodgates for Siraj when he caught Alick Athanaze leg-before in the first over of the day, was rewarded with a share of the new ball in the second innings. Siraj’s batting performance was significantly improved as a result of Mukesh Kumar’s performance.
It was up to the crafty Ashwin to make the breakthrough in the 18th over, making it four dismissals in four innings for the West Indies skipper. However, Brathwaite and Chanderpaul were able to navigate that task without any serious alarms, and it was left to Ashwin to do so.