Shami, Umesh reduce West Indies to 157/7 at tea

Pacer Mohammed Shami marked his return to Test cricket with four wickets, including two in an over, as India reduced West Indies to 157 for seven and took firm control of the first match here today.
At tea on day three, Shane Dowrich (6) and Jason Holder (9) were at the crease, with West Indies still trailing by 409 runs in reply to India's mammoth first-innings total of 566 for eight declared.
Just before tea, Umesh Yadav picked up two wickets, including the crucial one of opener Kraigg Brathwaite (74), to put India on top.
Returning to the squad after a one and a half year injury layoff, Shami rocked the West Indies, taking 4-41 in the first innings.

Post lunch, it was an improved display by the Indian bowlers who looked to change their line and length from the morning. And the change could be seen almost immediately as Shami started proceedings after the break. He kept both Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels (1) guessing, inducing an edge off the latter in the 49th over.
Four deliveries later, it became a double blow, as Jermaine Blackwood (0) was unable to fend off a sharp rising delivery and was caught at gully by Ajinkya Rahane. Thereafter a short partnership developed between Brathwaite and debutant Roston Chase (23) and they looked comfortable at the crease for the duration of their 47-run stand.

Brathwaite went on to score his 9th Test fifty off 156 deliveries, while the West Indies' 100-mark came up in the 51st over. Indian skipper Virat Kohli then went on the offensive and played around with his fielding combinations, putting in as many as five close-in catching positions for his pacers.

The trick worked as Umesh Yadav (2-26) broke through, first dismissing Chase who was caught at midwicket with Kohli doing the necessary catching himself. Two overs later, the same aggressive fielding worked as Brathwaite was forced to fend off a short delivery instead of pulling it, and edged behind to keeper Wriddhiman Saha, who affected his fifth dismissal of the innings.

R Ashwin (0-36) could have had a wicket too, towards the end of the session as Dowrich edged to Rahane at slip, but the ball was seen to have bounced on replay.
Earlier, West Indies reached 90/3 at lunch after Brathwaite had defied the Indian bowlers along with Devendra Bishoo (12). The duo put on 38 for the second wicket but more importantly frustrated the visitors by batting out 17.5 overs.
(REOPENS FGN 49)
Part of it had to with the fact that the Indian pacers were guilty of bowling too short, especially to the night watchman. Ishant as the leader of the attack was a disappointment in particular in this scenario as Kohli looked at him twice to bring about a dismissal. Shami was the one who troubled Bishoo the most, but couldn't induce an edge despite going past the bat on many occasions.

At the other end, Brathwaite was happy to leave as many deliveries as possible, and he was obviously helped by the wide deliveries bowled at him by the Indian pacers. When the spin came on, he looked to attack Ashwin and didn't allow the lead spinner to settle down at all, hitting him for boundaries in successive overs.
While only 29 runs had come in the first hour of play, the 50-mark for the West Indies had come up in the 24th over of the innings. Then the breakthrough finally came as Amit Mishra (1-18) was introduced into the attack, and Bishoo was stumped going for a sweep shot.

Darren Bravo (11) then came to the crease, and he looked solid there albeit only for a short while. Kohli changing around his bowlers too quickly perhaps helped him in this endeavour, particularly the pacers who all bowled short spells from the Sir Curtly Ambrose End. Ishant and Umesh were taken off after one and two over spells respectively, and then Shami came on to bowl.
It seemed as if Bravo would be able to take the West Indies to lunch without any further loss, but he played at a wide outswinging delivery that he didn't really need to, and ended up edging behind to keeper Wriddhiman Saha. Marlon Samuels was the other unbeaten batsman at the crease then, heading into the lunch break, but he was yet to get off the mark.