Bravo ton keeps Windies on course for big total

Darren Bravo completed his third test hundred as West Indies marched towards a big first innings total, reaching 378 for three at lunch on the second day of the third and final test against India.

Resuming on 267-2, the visitors added 111 runs to their overnight total in the morning session for the loss of Kirk Edwards’ wicket.

Bravo (105) and Kieran Powell (38) were the unbeaten batsmen together at lunch as West Indies, trailing 2-0 in the series, improved their chances of avoiding a whitewash.

The 22-year-old left-hander brought up his second successive ton with an elegant square-driven boundary off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and celebrated by kissing his bat before raising it aloft along with his cap.

The cousin of former West Indies batting great Brian Lara has hit 12 boundaries during his 169-ball stay, the only blemish coming on Tuesday, when Rahul Dravid dropped him at slip on 33 off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha’s bowling.

Picking up where they left off, Bravo and Edwards added 164 for the third wicket before the latter edged paceman Ishant Sharma to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps on the stroke of the first drinks break of the day.

Bravo then added 64 for the unbroken fourth wicket with Powell, who replaced the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the team, as the Indian bowlers were made to toil on an easy-paced surface at the Wankhede Stadium.

The stylish Bravo, who made 136 in the second innings in the last test in Kolkata, started briskly and hit debutant paceman Varun Aaron for two straight-driven boundaries off the first two deliveries of the morning.

Sharma was the pick of India’s bowlers and beat the edge on a number of occasions, but failed to make any further inroads into the batting order following the dismissal of Edwards.