Skipper Cheteshwar Pujara slammed an unbeaten triple century, as India A gained a massive first-innings lead of 296 runs and eased themselves to the driver’s seat in the final unofficial Test here on Friday. India, seeking a win to square the series, further tightened their grip over the match by removing their top-three batsmen before stumps.
The day belonged to Pujara, who except for an odd reprieve before lunch, played superbly to remain unbeaten with a characteristic 306, consuming 415 balls in a marathon and lasting nine-and-a-half hours.
Resuming his innings on a cautious note, he gradually took control of the situation and exhibited some pleasing drives and a couple of aggressive pulls.
Fickle partners hardly bothered him. He lost his overnight partner Abhishek Nayar in the second over of the day. Paras Dogra, too, departed soon after. The visitors, at that stage, would have thought of restricting India to a sub-400 score.
But that wasn’t to be. Pujara grew in confidence and completed 150 in 367 minutes. With Kaul, he gathered 50 runs in just 53 minutes. However, at 198, Ashley Nurse dropped him at second slip at the stroke of lunch. The next session entirely belonged to the Indians as they amassed as many as 142 runs in 29 overs. Of those Pujara contributed 107 runs (103b). Once again, the Caribbean spinners found some purchase from the wicket, which the home spinners couldn’t. Nurse, who extracted more bounce and little turn, was the pick of their bowlers, taking three wickets for 106 runs while Nikita Miller and Narsingh Deonarine took two apiece.
Conceding such a formidable lead, the West Indies could only go for a draw, but even that looks bleak, as Indian seamers had reduced them to 116 for three. The scenario was worse, as they were reeling at 57 for three at one stage before Deonarine and Assad Fudadin repaired the innings. They need both to bat deep into the third day to stave off an imminent defeat.
Scoreboard:
West Indies A (1st innings) 268.
India A (1st innings): Jagadeesh b Johnson 16, Gambhir b Deonarine 123, Pujara (not out) 306, Sehwag c Nurse b Miller 38, Nayar c sub b Fudadin 11, Dogra b Miller 7, Kaul c sub b Nurse 26, Kulkarni c Cummins b Deonarine 6, Zaheer c Powell b Nurse 19, Bhatt b Nurse 0, I Pandey (not out) 0, Extras (b-1, lb-6, w-3, nb-2) 12. Total: (for 9 wkts decl; 150 overs) 564. Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-242, 3-317, 4-340, 5-359, 6-452, 7-491, 8-531, 9-531.Bowling: Cummins 23-4-71-0, Johnson 22-3-98-1, Carter 6-1-22-0, Miller 40-8-112-2, Nurse 29-1-106-3, Fudadin 16-3-60-1, Deonarine 13-1-78-2, Brathwaite 1-0-10-0.West Indies A (2nd innings) Brathwaite lbw I Pandey 21, Powell lbw Zaheer 6, Johnson b Kulkarni 1, Deonarine (not out) 44, Fudadin (not out) 36, Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-2) 8, Total: (for 3 wkts; 35 overs) 116. Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-18, 3-57. Bowling: Zaheer 8-1-32-1, Kulkarni 7-1-22-1, Nayar 4-0-12-0, I Pandey 6-3-11-1, Sehwag 8-0-25-0, Bhatt 2-0-8-0.