Chase wants West Indies top order to 'bring some scores to the table'
Responding to India's 297, each of West Indies' top-eight batsmen got into double figures, but only four of them crossed 20 and Roston Chase's 48 was the highest score. That left the home side at a precarious 189 for 8 at the end of the second day of the North Sound Test, and "we gave away our wickets a little too easy" was Chase's explanation of the stuttering batting display.
John Campbell was aggressive in a first-wicket stand of 36 with Kraigg Brathwaite, but once he fell, and his partner became the first of Ishant Sharma's five victims on the day, there weren't many partnerships of note, the 44-run alliance between Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer for the sixth wicket the best of them.
Earlier this year, West Indies beat England 2-1 in a three-Test series at home. The middle-order batsmen played excellent hands then, but there were contributions from the top too, which Chase said the team needed desperately against India too.
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"I thought that in that series, what we did well [was] we had some good opening partnerships. We saw off the new ball, that made it easier for the middle order, and we were able to just come out and play freely before the bowlers, being that fresh, full of energy, chirping in the field, stuff like that …" he said. "I just think that that's where we need to knuckle down with our top-order batting.
"We usually contribute very well in the middle order but I think our top order needs to pull a little more weight and bring some scores to the table."
On Friday, every once in a way, the West Indies batsmen looked like they were settling down and bedding in for a defining partnership, but it never quite came. Worse for the team, as Chase said, none of the batsmen were done in by spectacular bowling.
"Most of our guys got starts but we give away our wickets a little too easy today, didn't really knuckle down and get that big score we were looking for," Chase said. "I find it (the pitch) has quickened up, because on the first day, it had a little bit of moisture, so the ball was slowing a bit. It's coming on to the bat quite nicely. Our batsmen could have used that to our advantage, but we gave our wickets away today.
"Just a lapse in concentration, I guess, because none of us got any really special delivery, any unplayable delivery, it was just poor on our part to give our wickets away to such ordinary deliveries."
Chase's own dismissal was an example of the "lapse in concentration", as he reached out to flick Ishant to KL Rahul at midwicket. Before that, he did look like he would pull off one more of the sort of innings in home conditions that he has made a name for.
"My thought process was just to stay hungry at the crease, to get my team as close as possible to the lead. But I gave it away. I thought it was looking good, it was going through my process, sticking to my game plan, but a lapse in concentration cost me my wicket," Chase said. "For me, the ball didn't do much, it was straight. I just thought I did not let it come to me as much as I should have.
"I just went a little bit too much in front of my body. That's what caused the ball to go in the air. I could have played with softer hands and let the ball come to me a bit more and just tuck it behind square for one."
When India batted, Kemar Roach and Co had reduced them to 25 for 3 - the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli among them - but the visiting side fought back to reach nearly 300, the 60-run stand for the eighth wicket between Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant hurting the West Indians the most.
"I thought that after our initial quick burst on top with the early wickets, the Indian batsmen really applied themselves well. Parternships are always big in Test cricket, and I thought that our bowlers really stuck to the task at hand," Chase said. "This morning, we got the early wickets we were looking for but I thought that we tried a bit too hard, we didn't stick to coming down the channel, we tried a bit too hard with the short-ball plan and stuff like that. And it cost us.
"Our energy went down a bit after the partnership built. I guess Jadeja and Ishant fed off that. We played into their hands and we tried too much things. But after we got that wicket, we wrapped it up pretty quickly, so that was still good for us. I thought we could have used that momentum going into the innings, but, as I said, we didn't really use the conditions to our favour."