Chase after Sobers
West Indies dig deep
Rostan Chase hit a magnificent hundred under pressure as West Indies opened up the prospect of enforcing an unlikely draw against India on the final day of the second Test at the Sabina Park in Kingston yesterday.
It was a sight to behold when Chase stroked a single off of-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to complete his hundred. The whole balcony was on its feet to salute the first West Indies player since Gary Sobers to take a five-for and score a century in the same Test. His brave knock contained 12 fours and a six.
Chase featured in two fighting partnerships – 93 runs with Jermaine Blackwood (63) for the fifth wicket and 141 runs with Shane Dowrich (74) for the sixth wicket to frustrate India's push for victory as the West Indies scored 319-6 in their second innings going into the final session. They could have been in a better position had Dowrich not adjudged leg before by umpire Ian Gould off Mishra. Replays clearly showed an inside edge but Dowrich had to go since there was no DRS.
Chase, on 112, and captain Jason Holder, unbeaten on 21, were taking the fight to India, who were pressing for the breakthrough in pursuit of victory and a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Earlier, resuming on a sun-drenched last day with the innings in apparent ruins at 48 for four after just 15.5 overs were bowled on a rain-ruined day four, Blackwood and Chase took on all the Indian bowlers, unsettling them via a succession of boundaries as they scored at better than a run-a-minute.
Blackwood could have been caught-and-bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin when on 37 but the bowler pulled his hands out of the way of a fearsome straight drive.
Having blazed a run-a-ball 62 on the first morning of the match, the diminutive right-hander got to 63 off 54 balls with nine fours and two sixes when Ashwin made amends via an excellent catch by Cheteshwar Pujara at forward short-leg.
Any hopes the Indians had of scything through the rest of the batting were thwarted though by Dowrich, who also played positively in partnership with his fellow Barbadian.