Tea West Indies 174 for 3 (Brathwaite 75, Blackwood 16*, Athanaze 13*, Jadeja 1-19) trail India 438 by 264 runs
Brathwaite is as old school as one can get these days. He has played nearly 200 first-class matches but is yet to feature in an official T20. When Mukesh hung up the ball outside off, Brathwaite refused to catch the bait. Then when Mukesh straightened his lines and targeted the stumps, with twin short midwickets and a short square leg in place, Brathwaite defended stoutly. He also dead-batted Mohammed Siraj and the spinners before Ashwin whipped up his magic.
Blackwood, who usually likes bat on ball, also showed great restraint and extended West Indies’ fight into the final session. Athanaze, though, batted with more freedom, picking Ashwin away for back-to-back fours.
McKenzie had played more eye-catching strokes on the third morning before rain intervened, forcing a truncated session. He punched Jaydev Unadkat for consecutive fours, which might have done his hero and fellow Jamaican Chris Gayle proud. It forced Unadkat to dig the ball into the pitch, but McKenzie was ready on the back foot to pull him for four more. Mukesh then had McKenzie wafting behind for 32 off 57 balls for his first Test and 150th first-class wicket.
It was just reward for Mukesh for having plugged away on a good length outside off. Perhaps, this was the reason why India had picked him ahead of Navdeep Saini after Shardul Thakur had been sidelined from this Test with a groin niggle. Mukesh could have a bigger role to play once India take the second new ball.