On a day when the weather changed from cloudy to muggy, the course of the match went from one in which West Indies A held sway to a contest which displayed a young India A team’s ability to claw back.
On the first day of the opening four-day game at the Gangotri Glades here, Cheteshwar Pujara’s men hit pay dirt very early and then were thwarted by the patient but defiant Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards in the mid-session before the hosts wound up proceedings on a satisfactory note pegging the visitors to 265/5, on Wednesday.
The fortunes of the Windies side was orchestrated by opener Brathwaite (92) and Edwards (91) with off-spinner Rasool (2/60) being the only highlight for the Indians.
Winning the toss, Pujara sent in the visitors, which got them thinking, more so since they assumed it was a batsmen’s paradise.
But Pujara had a plan in mind and it paid-off, initially. The start was ominous with Mohammed Shami trapping opener Kieran Powell (0) leg before in the third over. Shami and his opening bowler partner Ishwar Pandey used the moisture in the pitch, which offered bounce, to effective use as the Caribbean men struggled to get the scoreboard moving.
Brathwaite who was joined by one-down batsman and skipper Edwards in the middle, found it hard to connect, and the early jolt kept him patient.
A crowd in excess of 5,000, mostly college students, welcomed the introduction of Ashok Dinda with rapturous applause, but on his part, Dinda did little to trouble the batsmen. With the proceedings moving at snail pace, the teams went in for lunch at 58/1.
Back after the break, Brathwaite and Edwards stepped on the pedal with the latter lofting Rasool for the first six of the innings straight into the media box. Both the batsmen settled in well, finding the gaps and dispatching the loose deliveries to the fence with minimum fuss.
Shortly after tea, with both men looking set for their hundreds, Pandey’s yorker sent Edwards stumps tumbling, bring the 172-run second wicket partnership to an end.
Narsingh Deonarine would have followed soon after if Dinda had held on to a difficult catch at mid-off, off Pandey.
Rasool, who bowled a lengthy 14-over second spell, firstly removed dangerman Brathwaite with wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani snapping up the offering.
Deonarine followed in Rasool’s next over with the Jammu lad bringing off a superb return catch and when Rajat Paliwal sent back Leon Johnson, the West Indies A were reduced to 237/5.
But nightwatchman Assad Fudadin (4 not out) turned in a yawning 65-ball show, while Chadwick Walton (26 n.o.) at the other end threw his bat around as the teams shared the opening day’s honours.
Scoreboard
West Indies A (1st innings):
K. Brathwaite c Motwani b Rasool 92, K. Powell lbw Shami 0, K. Edwards b Pandey 91, N. Deonarine c & b Rasool 28, A. Fudadin (batting) 4, L. Johnson lbw Paliwal 10, C. Walton (batting) 26. Extras (b3, lb6, nb4) 13; Total (for 5 wkts, in 90 overs) 264
FoW: 1-3, 2-175, 3-211, 4-223, 5-237
Bowling: M. Shami 16-2-54-1, I. Pandey 19-5-53-1, A. Dinda 16-2-43-0, P. Rasool 27-10-60-2, R. Paliwal 8-2-28-1, H. Khadiwale 4-0-17-0