West Indies spinner Khary Pierre wants his team's batters to play well on a pitch that is taking time to deteriorate and drag the 2nd Test match to the 5th day. The Windies batters had their best day with the willow on Sunday with Shai Hope scoring 66 and John Campbell scoring 87 in the second innings after India enforced follow on after skittling out the visitors for 248 in the first innings. "I think the wicket is still a good one, with the odd balls spinning a little bit. All in all, I think the wicket is going to deteriorate more going on into the test match, so, it's all about batting as low as possible to try and get that wear and tear, you know, to even get even worse," Pierre said after Stumps on day 3. "I would say, as of now it is a good track to bat on but once we continue to bat, going on to the last session on fourth day or into the fifth day, I think it's going to deteriorate a lot, stay low and spin a little more. I would say the Test match is still on. Once we bat properly, I think the game is still on and once we get a lead, we all know on fourth, fifth day of a Test match, you know, probably get some balls to spin and stuff and make a game of it," he added. On the back of the aforementioned knocks of Campbell and Hope, West Indies ended day three of the second Test at 173 for 2 against India. Asked to follow on after folding for 248 in their first innings, Campbell (87 batting;145 balls) and Hope (66 batting; 103b) showed character with an unbeaten 138-run stand to cut down India's lead to 97 runs when stumps were called. Earlier in the day, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav completed a five-wicket haul to help bundle out West Indies for 248 in their first innings.
