Batters dominate after Umesh's best to place India on top

A combined effort - with Umesh Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant playing starring roles - helped India to a position of strength at the end Day 2 of the second Test against the Windies in Hyderabad. Umesh's six-wicket haul restricted Windies to a total of 311 before Shaw's assault set the tone for India's reply. The Windies bowlers came up with a spirited fightback halfway into the day's play, picking up quick wickets and showing plenty of discipline. But Rahane and Pant's unbeaten 146-run association helped India overcome a couple of quiet passages of play and finish the day on the strong note at 308 for 4, just three shy of Windies' first innings total.

Windies coach Stuart Law had expressed hope that his side could finish around the 350-400 mark. But that wasn't to be as the visiting team's innings was wrapped up inside 30 minutes in the morning session of Day 2. Umesh Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief, adding three more scalps to his overnight tally of three, finishing with figures of 6 for 88, his best performance in an innings. Umesh began with a wicket in the first over of the day, cleaning up Devendra Bishoo. Roston Chase went on to register his fourth ton in Tests, and with Jomel Warrican starting off with a six off Kuldeep Yadav, Windies managed to go past 300. Having survived for more than five overs, Chase and Warrican were starting to build a platform for another partnership to flourish. However, Umesh thwarted Windies' plans as he got one to jet back into Chase and strike timber before finding the outside edge off Shannon Gabriel to end the innings on a hat-trick as the visitors folded for 311, losing three wickets for the addition of only 16 runs on Day 2.

And then started the Prithvi Shaw show. Strong bottom hand, which has been the feature of his batting, was on display again as he punched a Shannon Gabriel delivery for a four before cutting one over the third-man fence in the opening over. Holder, on the other hand, was a lot fuller and troubled Shaw a bit. The batsman was forced to open the face of his bat to guide the ball past the slip cordon and fell over a bit to a ball that came in, which luckily for him was sliding down. While India had missed the services of Shardul Thakur, Windies had an injury trouble of their own as Shane Dowrich suffered a nasty blow to his knee and was subsequently carried off the field. The replacement 'keeper, Jahmar Hamilton, wasn't having a great time behind the stumps, conceding plenty of byes as India raced away to 50 in the eighth over.

Rahul was taking his time to get going but Shaw had reached top gear already, showcasing strong wrist work on either side of the wicket. He also didn't shy away from taking on the spinners, playing across the line and making room to cream the ball through the off side as he managed three successive boundaries off left-arm spinner Warrican. Rahul, on the other hand, didn't look too comfortable and his outing lasted only 24 deliveries when he made a late decision to shoulder arms to a Holder delivery and ended up chopping on. Shaw, meanwhile, had a lucky break when he was on 45, put down by Shai Hope at first slip off Warrican. Capitalising on the miss, he went on to register his second fifty-plus score in as many innings, getting there off only 39 deliveries to take India to 80 for 1 at Lunch.

Shaw continued from where he left off at the break, scoring boundaries at will as he was bullying the Windies bowlers into submission. However, he attempted one too many - an uppish drive off Warrican landing in the hands of Hetmyer at cover - and fell after a 53-ball stay in which he scored 11 fours and a six. On a pitch that wasn't really doing much for the bowlers, the Indian batsmen themselves were to blame for their dismissals, with Pujara handing Gabriel a wicket after a loose waft outside off. The onus was on Kohli and Rahane to rebuild the innings after the quick dismissals and they set about doing that in an unflustered manner. Anything full, Kohli drove confidently. For deliveries on the pads, he used his bottom hand to good effect while also showing the right amount of respect when required.

Once Gabriel was taken off the attack and the spinners bowled in tandem, they managed to sneak in a few tight overs which had an effect on the scoring rate. During the period of lull, no boundaries were scored for 12 overs before Kohli broke the shackles with regular fours off Bishoo to bring up a half-century stand. This was followed by another quiet period, with Holder doing his bit to cut down the run flow. Windies eventually reaped the reward for the persistence as their skipper removed his Indian counterpart five short of a half-century. Having employed mostly outside off lines, Holder got one to nip back and Kohli, having missed a flick, was trapped in front - a review failing to come to his aid as it was umpire's call with regards to hitting the stumps. India went into Tea at 173 for 4, having scored 93 runs in 31 overs in the session, losing three wickets in the process.

Windies created a few chances at the start of the second session but luck didn't quite go their way. Holder found the outside edge of Rahane's bat but the ball evaded the slip cordon and travelled to the boundary. While there was no one to fault for that, Windies had their stand-in 'keeper to blame when Pant was dropped on 25 off Gabriel and the left-hander capitalisied on it as he associated himself in a half-century stand with Rahane. Pant also had a close shave a few overs later when he attempted to hoick Bishoo and the ball ended just short of the fielder at long-on. Meanwhile, barring the edge at the start of the session, India's vice-captain wasn't really troubled as he was focussed on blunting the bowlers with his strong defence and strike rotation. His cuts and pulls were measured, shot selection astute, and he concentrated on playing straight.

For all the discipline that Windies had shown earlier, the Indians too had done a good job of wearing down the bowlers and the effects showed as there were a few loose ones which the batsmen were able to put away en route individual fifties. Rahane got his fifty off 122 deliveries, bringing up his first half-century in 11 innings at home, while Pant took 67 to get to his third successive fifty-plus score, with a century stand following soon that aided India in eating away at the deficit. With the spinners erring with the lengths towards the end of the day, Pant and Rahane were both able to score a flurry of boundaries, with the former also clearing the fence twice during their unbeaten stay on Day 2.

Brief scores: Windies 311 (Roston Chase 106, Jason Holder 52; Umesh Yadav 6-88, Kuldeep Yadav 3-85) lead India 308/4 (Rishabh Pant 85*, Ajinkya Rahane 75*; Jason Holder 2-45) by 3 runs.