While Roston Chase is playing a great knock as he is batting on 98 runs, Windies head coach Stuart Law claims 350-400 will be a good first innings total for them at present.
On the opening day of the Hyderabad Test, Windies captain Jason Holder decided to bat first after winning the important toss. From 113/5, Windies had two good partnerships that helped them to reach on 295/7 at the end of the opening day.
Talking about the day’s game, Law said according to Sportstar, “We were lucky we won the toss today (Friday) and batted, especially with an extra spinner there. We will look to control the game. Ideally, we would like to get to 350-400 and then if Holder, with his pace and swing, and Shannon Gabriel, with his express speed, can chip away at a few early wickets, we could expose India’s middle-order and put them under pressure.”
While the Windies’ top-order batting again struggled the middle-order batsman Roston Chase has batted beautifully as he remained not out on 98 runs off 174 balls (7 fours and only six). He had two important partnerships – 69-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Shane Dowrich (30) and 104-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Jason Holder (52) – which helped the visitors to move out from the early tensed situation like 113/5.
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Law praised Chase for his brilliant effort as he feels that the 26-year-old right-handed batsman likes to play against the Indian bowlers.
Law said, “He (Chase) had a couple of hundreds against India in the Caribbean and he obviously likes to play against their type of bowling. He has a good temperament. And when he does get going, he’s a fantastic player to watch. That said, he needs to come back tomorrow (Saturday) morning and finish the job.”
Further talking about Chase’s brilliant knock, Law pointed out how the right-handed batsman becomes effective against the spinners by using his height and temperament.
Law said, “He (Chase) has got a long reach, he uses that to his advantage. He’s a clean striker of the ball. He understands spin, and it’s probably his strong suit. The best thing about him is that he likes to fight. He’s lucky he plays spin naturally well.”
At the beginning of the day, the Windies camp hugely surprised by not selecting their experienced pacer Kemar Roach, who missed the first Test at Rajkot due to returning to his home after his grandmother’s demise. However, Law stated that the right-arm pacer is totally fit and it was a robust decision by the team management after discussion.
Law said about Roach, “He’s fully fit. It’s just the way the selection rolled. We had a robust discussion, the captain, chairman of selectors and I, and we went with the final XI we played today.”
