India vs West Indies: ‘Our batting against India disappointing’: West Indies coach Floyd Reifer

“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.

West Indies coach Floyd Reifer said that the batting by his team was “disappointing” as they were at 87/7 on day two of the second Test against India.

West Indies coach Floyd Reifer(Action Images via Reuters)

Windies’ innings got off to a bad start as Bumrah had John Campbell (2) caught at the hands of wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant with 10 runs on the board.

Bumrah wreaked havoc in the 9th over as he registered a hat-trick, and with this, he became only the third Indian after Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan to achieve the feat in the longest format of the game. Bumrah took a five-wicket haul.

“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.

Resuming day two at 264/5, India got off to the worst start possible as the side lost Pant (27) on the first ball of the day. Holder bowled an inswinger to dismantle the stumps of Pant.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja came to bat next and he provided support to the overnight batter Hanuma Vihari. The duo played cautiously and stitched a 38-run stand, but their resistance was cut short by Rahkeem Cornwall as he dismissed Jadeja (16) to reduce India to 302/7.

Holder had one decision going his way as the umpire ruled Vihari leg-before wicket, but the batsman reviewed the call, and the DRS saved him as the ball was clearly missing the stumps.

The team did not lose any more wicket and India went to the lunch break with a score of 336/7.

After the break, both Ishant and Vihari scored at a brisk pace and their partnership saw Ishant bringing up his half-century and Vihari bringing up his maiden ton.

Looking for big shots, tailender Ishant (57) perished as he was sent back to the pavilion by Kraigg Brathwaite, and the 112-run partnership came to an end between Ishant and Vihari.

After Ishant’s dismissal, India’s innings folded for 416 runs. Holder sent Vihari (111) back to the pavilion to scalp his fifth wicket in the innings.

“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.

Windies skipper Jason Holder scalped five wickets while debutant Rahkeem Cornwall bagged three wickets. Kemar Roach bowled well but was only able to get hold of one wicket.

“Roach, Holder, and Cornwall had good spells. It’s a matter of us, not seizing the key moments of the game. We gonna take our chances especially on the flat wickets like these. When the chances come opportunities come and you have to capitalize on it,” Reifer said.