India, Oct. 12 -- There wasn't much in the wicket. That much Ravindra Jadeja had already indicated in his press conference after Day 2 of the second Test on Saturday. "It's hard work," he had said.

And true to his words, the Kotla wicket was its best for batting on Sunday. The turn was slow, the bounce was true and West Indies batters made the most of the conditions and a flagging Indian bowling attack to reach 178/2 after being asked to follow on early on Day 3. They still trail India's first innings total by 97 runs.

John Campbell (87) and Shai Hope (66), with his first fifty in 32 innings, put together a 138-run stand that would have had the hosts questioning their decision to enforce the follow-on in the first place.

But just as im...