Windies keep India at bay

For the second match running, West Indies A had India A in a spot as the much-vaunted comeback of the senior pros fell flat on Day Two of the four-day game at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering ground, on Thursday. With all the focus on the possible return of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan, the unheralded Bhargav Bhatt (7/113) and the unassuming V.A. Jagadeesh (batting 79 ) catapulted themselves into the limelight with sterling displays even as the hosts limped to 191/3 at close of play. Giving company to Jagadeesh was Abhishek Nayar, who plundered an unbeaten 56 off just 38 deliveries to bring some life into the hosts’ camp towards the end. The visitors, who stretched their overnight 283/6 to 406 before being all out with Bhatt bagging all the four wickets to fall in the morning, soon had the Indians in trouble with a lacklustre Gambhir falling to the in-form Veerasamy Permaul in the 13th over. While opener Jagadeesh was fluent and played freely, skipper Cheteshwar Pujara was circumspect but the duo added 60 for the second wicket before Pujara (25) fell sweeping left-arm spinner Nikita Miller to Kieran Powell. Though the Caribbeans’ pace spearhead Fidel Edwards was typically erratic spraying no balls before being taken off the attack after just four overs, Permaul and Miller once again kept probing the Indian batsmen with their variations. SCORECARD West Indies A: K. Brathwaite c Kaul b Rasool 82, K. Powell c Kaif b Bhatt 33, K. Edwards st Kaul b Bhatt 18, N. Deonarine lbw b Zaheer 12, A. Fudadin lbw b Bhatt 63, L. Johnson c & b Bhatt 91, C. Walton c Kaul b Shami 30, N. Miller (not out) 64, V. Permaul lbw b Bhatt 0, F. Edwards lbw b Bhatt 2, M. Cummins b Bhatt 0. Extras (lb 2, w 1, nb 8) 11, Total: (in 121.5 overs) 406. FoW: 1-55, 2-77, 3-98, 4-215, 5-215, 6-283, 7-380, 8-380, 9-390. Bowling: Zaheer 20-5-66-1, Shami 22-2-93-1, Nayar 16-4-52-0, Rasool 33-9-80-1, Bhatt 30.5-4-113-7. India A: V. Jagadeesh (batting) 79, G. Gambhir c Edwards b Permaul 11, C. Pujara c Powell b Miller 25, V. Sehwag st Walton b Permaul 7, A. Nayar (batting) 56. Extras (lb 4, nb 9) 13, Total: (for 3 wkts, in 58 overs) 191. FoW: 1-44, 2-104, 3-114. Bowling: Edwards 4-0-30-0, Cummins 11-4-30-0, Permaul 23-7-60-2, Deonarine 7-0-24-0, Miller 13-1-43-1.