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India were 270 ahead, seven-and-a-half sessions still in the bank, and the surface at Delhi looking flat rather than frazzled. Most sides bat again from there, give their bowlers a breather, and return once the pitch has scuffed up. India chose the other route. They asked West Indies to have another go, banking on wear and tear that never properly arrived. By stumps on day three the tourists, winless all tour, had stitched together their best passage of play: 229 for 2 and only 97 behind, with John Campbell and Shai Hope unbroken on 138 for the third wicket.
Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, laid out the thinking. “There was a discussion to bat,” he admitted. “Those last two wickets took a little bit longer than we would have hoped for, and had probably started going towards the [space] where you do look to bat again. But we felt [270] was a good lead. We thought the wicket’s going to keep deteriorating, we thought by close of play it would be at its worst, but it just seems to have slowed down even more.”
Numbers tell part of the tale. West Indies’ first innings lasted 81.5 overs – a jump from the two sub-50 collapses in Ahmedabad. Their tail dragged 73 runs out of the track. India, sensing momentum, perhaps gambled on ending it swiftly. Instead, 130.5 overs are already in those legs, and there are at least two more sessions to bowl on Monday before the new ball is even due.
For the spinners it was fiddly. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar shared eight wickets first time round; second time, the combined return read 1 for 149 from 38 overs. “It’s quite challenging to get any pace out of the wicket, [and] you have to really fire the ball in,” ten Doeschate said. “And, of course, when you fire the ball in, it’s got less chance of spinning.”
Khary Pierre, who had contributed a handy 23 at No. 8, sounded mildly taken aback. “Actually it was a bit surprising that they went back to bowl [even though] the wicket was still a good one,” he said. “For me, personally, batting on the wicket, batting a lot of time, and watching the wicket, seeing what it was doing, I think it’s still a very good wicket.”
If Pierre was puzzled, Campbell and Hope were delighted. Campbell, always a free-scorer, put away anything short; Hope, calmer, waited for the ball that did not move. Boundaries were scarce early on, yet neither blinked. India rotated eight bowlers, even returning to part-time seam from Shubman Gill, but neither set nor line knocked the pair off their stride.
To be fair, the visitors are not suddenly favourites. The pitch remains slow, not placid; an early wicket on Monday could leave a freshish ball at West Indies’ lower order. India still own the scoreboard. But with a series that had looked one-way now stretching into a fourth day with genuine jeopardy, West Indies have earned the right to dream of something more than respectability.
Aakash Chopra, analysing in the host broadcaster’s studio, reckoned the decision owed as much to weary bodies as bold intent. “Tiredness hampered India bowlers,” he judged, noting the extra kilometres already clocked in the heat.
So the match is very much on. India need eight wickets, West Indies need time and another dose of discipline. Campbell and Hope have already ensured the follow-on gamble is at least a talking point rather than a footnote. And that, for a side written off after Ahmedabad, feels like progress.
