Brave Windies defy India in tense draw

A heroic unbeaten century by Test rookie Roston Chase has denied India victory in the second Test match against the West Indies in Jamaica.

Needing to bat out the last day with only six wickets in hand to salvage a draw, Chase produced an innings of the highest calibre, batting for over six hours, negotiating 269 balls and scoring 137 runs to prevent India from going 2-0 up in the four match series.

Playing in just his second Test match, Chase became only the fourth West Indian and the first since Sir Garfield Sobers 50 years ago to achieve the feat of scoring a hundred and taking a five-wicket haul in the same Test as West Indies pulled off a great escape. The off-spinner had taken 5-121 in India's first innings.

Resuming the day on 4-48 under bright skies, Chase and Jermaine Blackwood batted with the intent of scoring rather than surviving.

Blackwood was ruthless against Mohammad Shami, hitting the fast bowler for two scorching boundaries in the paceman's first over of the day. And for the next few overs, every time Shami overpitched Blackwood drove through the line to send the ball racing to the straight boundary.

Chase on the other hand looked composed from the outset, as used his height to ride the short-ball, his reach to smother the spin and his majestic hands to punch the ball into the gaps.

Blackwood reached his second half-century of the game by skipping down the pitch and hitting Ravi Ashwin back over his head.

The pair added 93 in just 17.4 overs to put the pressure right back on India and the visitors finally managed a break through when Blackwood (63) inside edged one from Ashwin to be caught brilliantly by Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg.

The wicket of Blackwood seemed to lift Chase, as he began to use his feet to the spinners with more assurance. He went deep in his crease to cut Ashwin for couple of boundaries before dispatching Amit Mishra to mid-wicket fence by using his silky wrists. He brought up 50 with a lovely on drive past midwicket to the take the West Indies past 200.

From the other end, Shane Dowrich also seemed to grow in confidence as he batted with determination and discipline to deny India any further breakthroughs before lunch. The first session was highly productive for the hosts as they scored 167 runs with loss of just one wicket.

Ishant Sharma produced a quality spell after lunch but both Dowrich and Chase withstood the challenge with some defiant batting. And as the session wore on, India started to get frustrated as couple of edges fell short of the cordon and a top-edge from Chase just eluded the keeper.

Dowrich and Chase ensured the runs continued to flow as they reduced the deficit to less than 70 and s India’s seamers and spinners started to tire, Dowrich decided to cash in by taking on the short ball and executing the sweep shot effectively. He bought up his fifty in 78 balls to help reduce the lead to just 60.

In the meantime, Chase continued his march towards his century with back to back fours off Mishra. India let a chance slip when Ajinkya Rahane dropped a difficult chance off Dowrich at slip from Mishra, but eventually got some luck when Dowrich (74) was adjudged LBW, despite getting an inner edge.

For Chase, his memorable moment arrived in the very next over, as he eased off-break from Ashwin through the leg-side to bring up a magnificent fighting century and just his third at first-class level.

It was an innings of patience, purpose, superb concentration and - more importantly - it came under immense pressure.

With 20 minutes to tea, India took the second new ball and once again went past the bat on few occasions but they failed in their bid to take a wicket as the hosts went to the break at 6-319, a lead of 17 runs.

There was one final determined effort by India’s bowlers with the hard new ball in the final session but as had been the story for most the day, Chase answered each challenge with a vertical bat and assured footwork.

The over-attacking field set meant the runs came at brisk rate, as Jason Holder cashed in on a pitch that lost all its zing. The skipper helped himself to a half-century as West Indies lead crept past 50 and the draw now looked inevitable.

Finally, with less than 10 overs left in the day, Virat Kohli decided to shake hands with Holder and then applaud Chase all the way to the boundary.

Playing in just in second Test, Chase produced an innings well beyond his experience and was declared man-of-the-match.

But most importantly, he has kept the West Indies alive in the four Test series.