India vs West Indies, 2nd Test: 5 Talking Points from the game

Did the declaration cost the game?

After getting to within 70 runs of the Windies total on day 1 itself, day two was a bit of a letdown for Indian supporters as they could manage a lead of 162 at the end of day 2. Still, considering the fact that there were three more days to go, it could hardly be called catastrophic.

But the way in which India batted on day three went some way towards helping West Indies have a sniff of salvaging the Test. Despite having two set batsmen in Wriddhiman Saha and Ajinkya Rahane at the crease, neither went for too many expansive strokes and in the end, India took until after tea to declare.

With the team possessing the knowledge about the upcoming rain and the fact that overs were going to be lost on day four, wouldn't it have made more sense for the batsmen to bat more quickly and end up with a better score in a quicker time. Had they done this, not only would they have declared much earlier than tea on day three but also would have had that much more time to bowl at the West Indian batting line-up.

Although the hosts stood firm on the final day, it was for just over 100 overs and that is a long way away from defending for near 150 overs, which is what might have happened had Kohli asked his batsmen to aggressive and declared sooner.