Mumbai, India — Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite, the young West Indies openers, were asked to do a job on Tuesday and they responded brilliantly. The plan was get the team through the first hour of the opening day of the third Test and build from there. The pair stuck to the gameplan and added a superb opening stand of 137 as the Windies ended the day on 267-2 off 91 overs on a good batting surface at the Wankhede Stadium.
The 18-year-old Brathwaite made 68 – the third half-century and highest score in his sixth Test match. The knock surpassed the 63 he made in the opening match of the series at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. The 21-year-old Barath made 62 – to follow-up the 62 he made in the second innings of the second Test match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata last week.
After the pair departed Kirk Edwards (65 not out with 10 fours) and Darren Bravo (57 not out with seven boundaries) continued their excellent batting. They have so far added 117 for the third wicket in 32 overs. Edwards, the tall right-hander, has now made three half-centuries and two centuries since his Test debut against India at Warner Park in Dominica in July. The left-handed Bravo continues to flourish following his breakthrough 195 against Bangladesh in Dhaka three weeks ago and 135 in Kolkata last week.
Tuesday’s effort was only the third time that the first four batsmen scored fifties together in the same innings for West Indies. The first time was against India at the Brabourne in 1948 – Allan Rae (104), Jeffrey Stollmeyer (66), Clyde Walcott (68) and Everton Weekes (194). The second occasion was at Headingley against England in 1976 – Roy Fredericks (109), Gordon Greenidge (115), Vivian Richards (66) and Lawrence Rowe (50).
Speaking after the day’s play Brathwaite was straightforward.
"As batsmen we know we have to score runs. That’s the bottom line. Early on with the new ball, it was doing a bit, but nothing significant. This is a good pitch … it is the best pitch out of the all we have played on this tour. It was spinning but it was spinning very slowly. So we had time to adjust. Playing against India in India… it’s good to get two 50s against them. It has given me a lot of confidence."
The University of the West Indies student, who is less than two weeks away from his 19th birthday, struck eight fours off 184 balls. Barath, who played with his usual freedom, also hit eight boundaries off 148 balls. The century opening stand is the fourth for West Indies in Tests since December 2009 and second this month. This is Brathwaite’s second century opening stand in his short career. He added 100 with Kieran Powell in the second Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla three weeks ago.
Brathwaite added: "As openers we decided to look to get through the first hour without losing any wicket. We did that and from there we just said we would press on and we got a 50 partnership and then 100. After lunch when we came back we thought we will give the team as best a start as possible and look to be watchful and carry on. We looked to bat time. Our aim is to bat the better part of two days. India batted the better part of two days in Kolkata and you see what it did for them. So we will look to do the same and play for a win."
Barath too was happy with his performance and was also full of praise for Brathwaite.
"The team needed a solid start. I was content just to be patient and look to see off the first hour and take it from there. It was really good to see the way how Kraigg applied himself and he was rewarded with his second half-century of the series. To see him do well has given me encouragement as well. We batted well together," Barath said.
"Winning the toss today was very important. We backed ourselves to post a good total and we went out with the belief that we could do the job against the Indian bowlers. We did well at the top and it is good to see we have two set batsmen, Kirk and Darren at the crease to start the second day, as we look to continue and build a sizeable score.
"Having lost the series we knew we had to salvage something and we came out here to fight for the people of the West Indies. We continue to believe we are doing some good things as a team. In this series people will say we have been in the shadows but we never lost faith and we kept the belief. This is the fifth Test match on a row for us, so we have treated it as a five-match series and as you can see we have been doing better with the bat. We want to capitalise on this splendid start and set a big target for the Indian batsmen."