Floyd Reifer, the West Indies head coach, was left crestfallen after another batting collapse had the team struggling at 87 for 7 on the second day of the second Test against India here.
Jasprit Bumrah rattled the West Indies batting line-up. He picked up six wickets; his menacing spell included a hat-trick. “Our batting was disappointing again as we did not leave a lot of balls early in the innings. When the ball is moving, you have to play the ball as late as possible. We have to work on our batting,” Reifer said.
Earlier, West Indies bowlers were made to toil hard by Hanuma Vihari, who rallied with the tail to steer India to a total of 416 in the first innings. Reduced to 302 for 7 at one stage, India’s innings didn’t end very quickly as Vihari (111) and Ishant Sharma (57) joined hands, adding 112 runs together.
‘Tough day’
“Tough day today, the way we started we aimed to bowl out India early. Our bowlers bowled a pretty good line and lengths, we maintained a good scoring rate in terms of keeping India under three per over,” Reifer said.
For the West Indies, skipper Jason Holder was the most successful bowler as he returned a five-wicket haul. Debutant Rahkeem Cornwall picked up three wickets. Kemar Roach took one wicket. “Roach, Holder, and Cornwall had good spells. It’s a matter of us not seizing the key moments of the game. We [are going to] take our chances, especially on the flat wickets like these. When the chances come, opportunities come, and you have to capitalise on it,” Reifer said.
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