IND vs WI: Batters, Siraj provide the template for India in Trinidad

After four exciting days of Test cricket despite a few rain interruptions here and there, Day five of the second Test between India and West Indies in Trinidad promises to be an intriguing affair, should the rain stay out of it.

West Indies have never looked as a settled unit themselves despite a few silver linings, but after four days of the second Test, all three results still seem likely but the most likeliest of it all remains a series win for India. Which, they won’t take for granted considering it’s part of the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC cycle).

To put into context, after India declared at 181/2 in their second innings, West Indies were set a target of 365 and find themselves at 76/2.

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India vs West Indies: Mohammed Siraj, batters help visitors stay on course for Test series victory in Trinidad

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West Indies resumed their first innings from an overnight score of 229/5, and possibly, their final hope was Alick Athanaze staying in the middle for as long as possible. However, the Windies never really took off at the start of the day, and only in the fourth delivery Athanaze faced in the day, he was struck LBW by Mukesh Kumar. Not even a DRS review could help Athanaze after HawkEye showed the ball to be clipping leg stump, while having been beaten on the inside edge.

By now, Jason Holder was starting to lose support from the other end. While he collected a boundary at the start of the day, guiding through backward point region, the former captain could not sustain that momentum even more. Facing an outswinging full delivery from Siraj, Holder opted to not let it go and struck his bat out, only to get an edge and eventually let Ishan Kishan complete the catch.

Holder’s dismissal proved costly, signifying the end of Windies’ resistance in the first innings. Siraj was no match for the hosts, as he went onto remove Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel to rattle West Indies for 255. Siraj finished with impressive figures of 5/60.

India’s quickfire start

India openers skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were on a rampage, quite literally. Runs were coming easy for the visitors, and that too, in the form of boundaries.

The duo struck from the word go with their aggressive approach, something West Indies had missed in their first innings. In the fifth ball of the first over, Jaiswal went down the track over extra cover, only to follow it up with a flick through wide of mid-on for four. That set the platform for the two to build a stable partnership.

Rohit, meanwhile, collected his first boundary by reading Alzarri Joseph’s outswinger precisely, opening the face of the bat and guiding through the vacant third man fence for a four.

Rohit, however, could have been dismissed for 26, had it not been for a costly drop by Shannon Gabriel at deep mid-off. On this occasion, Rohit opened the bat face only in the last minute, and the timing of the shot was not upto the mark.

Rohit continued collecting boundaries at regular intervals, so did Jaiswal. What caught the eye of many was the way he slammed a maximum at the start of the eighth over. Facing Joseph, Rohit prodded forward to initiate a pull shot over wide long-on with some brilliant footwork.

All in all, the India skipper batted with full freedom, and there was no stopping him until the 12^th over, when Rohit pulled a short ball from Gabriel to dispatch it to Joseph at fine leg. Rohit was dismissed for just 57 off 44 deliveries.

Ishan Kishan was another man on a mission. The 24-year-old, too, took on the Windies’ bowlers with ease, reaching his fifty off just 33 deliveries.

Kishan was promoted to number four ahead of Virat Kohli, and it’s safe to say that he provided an impetus with some aggressive batting display.

Kishan collected his first boundary, hammering Jomel Warrican towards deep midwicket off a short ball, and collected another almost three overs later with a slog sweep between long-on and deep midwicket.

In the 24^th over, Kishan went all out against Roach, amassing two sixes, the second of which brough up Kishan’s half-century. Soon after which, India declared at 181/2. It was fun to see Kishan’s batting while it lasted, as he pretty much followed Rishabh Pant’s batting template to put India ahead of West Indies in the Test. Like they always were in the series so far.