West Indies opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite has commended the Indian bowlers for their brilliant show on a slow pitch on day three of the ongoing first Test, saying the visitors “bowled with a lot of discipline”.
A dominant India sniff a possible innings victory after bundling out West Indies for 243 runs in their first innings in reply to 566 for eight declared.
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Following on, West Indies were 21 for one in their second innings, still trailing India by 302 runs.
“I think I haven’t seen any bowlers bowl so well in the early stage of the innings. They bowled with a lot of discipline. They also set attacking fields and really backed it up with good disciplined bowling. There were in a good position with a big first innings score, and so they could set attacking field, and bowled to their field,” said Brathwaite, who top-scored with a defiant 74 in the first innings.
A Herculean task now awaits West Indies as they need to bat out of their skin to save the match, and Brathwaite believes his team-mates had the wherewithal to withstand the Indian bowlers’ pressure in the second innings.
“Today (Day 3) was not the best day for us as a batting unit. Now we have to do that tomorrow (Day 4), go out there, start from the beginning and assess the conditions. It won’t be easy. But we believe in ourselves and want to go with a positive mind set,” he said.
“As a batsman, you have to know when you have to curb your aggression and defend, or when to attack. I think it’s all about individual batting as a whole. It’s about having confidence in what you do and building partnerships and bat throughout the fourth day. We have some really good batsman,” Brathwaite signed off.
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