India vs West Indies: Brathwaite, batters' resolute yet cautious approach has their hopes hanging in balance

Saturday provided a rare opportunity for West Indies to have a say in the ongoing second Test against India in Trinidad. Resuming from their overnight score of 86/1, captain Kraigg Brathwaite (75) led from the front to take the Windies out of trouble, but by the end of the day West Indies found themselves in a tricky position again, with their score reading 229/5, trailing India by another 209 runs. Kraigg Brathwaite’s resolute display Since a knock of 182 in a Test against Zimbabwe in February this year, Kraigg Brathwaite has played five Test matches but has only gone past the 20-run mark on one of eight innings he has played since then. And that was on Saturday, when Brathwaite’s resolute batting display led the Windies at a crucial juncture of play against India. Brathwaite would feel he should have stayed on for much longer to give West Indies a fighting chance in this Test, especially with two full days remaining.

Brathwaite leads the Windies fightback with a 50! #INDvWIonFanCode #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/WIZhQtGHiq

— FanCode (@FanCode) July 22, 2023

But the 30-year-old’s knock was so good so much that Ravichandran Ashwin had to come up with a peach of a delivery to dismiss the hosts captain. With a lot of turn on offer in Port of Spain, spinners were bound to have a say and Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja made the most of it. Against Brathwaite, Ashwin quite literally castled the skipper with a magical, deceptive spinning delivery.

Ashwin's wizardry✨ breaks through Brathwaite's resistance!#WIvIND #SabJawaabMilenge #JioCinema pic.twitter.com/wJz8Ut3tX8

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) July 22, 2023

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Ashwin bowled a delivery that drifted away from Brathwaite which eventually led the batter into forward defence. But Brathwaite did not see the sharp turning ball coming towards him, and as a result, the ball went between the bat and pad to hit the middle stump. However, it was Brathwaite’s strike-rate that came under scrutiny on Saturday. When Brathwaite was dismissed for 75 off 235 deliveries, Brathwaite finished with a strike-rate of 31.91, which was even lesser than his overall Test strike-rate of 40.64. It seemed like Brathwaite had taken a rather over-cautious approach to his batting. So much so that he faced more than 60 dot balls, and opted to block a lot of those. Boundaries, too, were coming at a dry pace for Brathwaite. He took 14 deliveries to collect his first boundary, off Mohammed Siraj’s ball where he dribbled way towards fine leg fence for a four. Brathwaite’s next came 16 deliveries later, the 30th ball he faced, when he punished debutant Mukesh Kumar. Facing a short of length delivery, Brathwaite pushed away from the body, eventually beating past gully for four. Early lunch was called on Saturday due to rain, and after the match resumed for the second session, Brathwaite eventually got to his fifty, in his 170th delivery he faced. Facing Mukesh, Brathwaite clipped through mid-wicket to collect a brace and reach the milestone. All Brathwaite could accumulate post that was 25 runs from 65 deliveries, scoring all but two boundaries since his fifty. Jermaine Blackwood, too, decided to take the cautious route, facing 92 deliveries but only managing a couple of boundaries. Windies pin hopes on Athanaze, Holder Alick Athanaze and Jason Holder are the last two recognized batters in the Windies batting line-up, so it’s safe to say the hosts will pin hopes on the duo to reach anywhere closer to India’s total. The duo have added 21 runs so far for the sixth wicket so far, with Athanaze looking to build on a rather sedate start. Athanaze came in at number five following Brathwaite’s dismissal, and took on Ravichandran Ashwin early on his innings in a quite valiant manner. He batted with more freedom than compared to Brathwaite and Blackwood earlier in the day, beating Ashwin for consecutive boundaries in the 79th over, the second of those which was a slog sweep towards deep square leg. Not long back, during the first Test, Athanaze almost single-handedly carried the Windies with a knock of 47 before they were bowled out for 150 in Dominica, but this time, with Jason Holder at the other end, that should give him the confidence to take on the Indian spinners with grit and determination. However, once again, it was the strike-rate that came into question. Athanaze has conceded too many dot balls in his 111-ball knock so far, something which would only put more pressure on the Windies going into Day 4, given they are in a tough spot already. In fact, six of the seven West Indies batters so far have endured strik-rates of below 35, which is not a good sign when you’re looking to script a strong reply to a total like 438. Kirk McKenzie, with a strike-rate of 56.14 was the only batter to have struck above 50, making 32 off 57 deliveries. Athanaze and Holder will need to bat with more freedom and more fearlessness to take on the spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja. With just two days left in the Test, all West Indies can hope is maybe a draw, but even that will be made difficult should the Windies lose wickets on Day four. And Athanaze and Holder will have to make sure a collapse of that sort does not happen, by potentially building a strong yet aggressive partnership.