Hanuma Vihari’s maiden ton, followed by a magnificent spell of fast bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, put India in the drivers’ seat at the end of the second day of the second test against the West Indies on Saturday.
Resuming at their overnight score of 264/5, India lost Rishabh Pant off the very first ball of the day, with a lovely in-swinger from Jason Holder shattering the stumps of the left hander.
The pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Vihari added 38 runs for the seventh wicket, before the former top edged a Rahkeem Cornwall delivery to Darren Bravo at mid on for 16.
Vihari got a reprieve an over later when he was dropped by Campbell at first slip, denying Cornwall a potential third, and this was to prove very, very costly for the Windies.
The Andhra star found an able ally in the form of Ishant Sharma, and the duo frustrated the Windies bowlers with a valuable 112 run partnership for the eight wicket. Both players reached landmarks- a maiden century for Vihari and a first 50 for Ishant. The stand- the highest of the Indian innings, was eventually broken when the latter holed out to Hetymer in the deep for 57 while looking to accelerate.
Mohammed Shami didn’t last long as he nicked a Cornwall delivery to Jahmar Hamilton behind the stumps. Vihari was the last to go for 111, with Holder getting a deserved 5fer for his tireless efforts as India were bowled out for 416.
The Windies needed a good start to have any chances of staying in the game, but they were blown out of it by Bumrah, who showed why he is so highly rated with a devastating spell of bowling upfront.
Their slide started in the 7th over, with John Campbell nicking a Bumrah delivery to wicket keeper Pant for just 2.
An over later, the Mumbai Indians star broke the back of the Windies innings as he bagged the wickets of Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks and Roston Chase in consecutive deliveries to leave the hosts wobbling at 13/4.
In the process, Bumrah also became only the third Indian to register a hat-trick in Test cricket after Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan
Shimron Hetmyer provided some respectability to the score with his innings of 34, before being bowled by Shami.
Three overs later Bumrah came back to dismiss West Indies skipper Jason Holder- his sixth wicket of the day, as the home side were left reeling at 87/7, still trailing India by a whopping 329 runs at the end of Day 2.