In the opening session of the second morning, Afghanistan clawed back into the Test with wickets, though West Indies overcame the deficit to take a lead. When lunch was called on a hazy morning in Lucknow, on Thursday (November 28), West Indies were 195 for 5 with an 8-run lead.
In the morning, there was heavy fog and visibility levels were pretty low, making conditions difficult to play in. The play started on time as runs were scored freely. Campbell got to 50 in his maiden Test before Afghanistan hit back to take West Indian wickets in quick succession.
It was Amir Hamza, who helped Afghanistan make inroads when he broke the overnight century stand. Ihsanullah pulled off a stunner in the leg-gully area. Campbell, who went for a paddle sweep, lobbied the ball to a fielder. This put an end to his impressive 55-run knock, which came off only 75 balls.
The dismal run of Shimron Hetmyer continued with another failure. Rashid Khan, who got lots of turn and bounce, forced another poor score from him after he was caught plumb in front of his leg break. Two wickets were lost in the opening hour by West Indies.
Meanwhile, Shamarh Brooks managed to score his second consecutive Test fifty at a critical time when wickets were falling at the other end. Notwithstanding the loss of wickets, the batsmen regularly found boundaries as runs came briskly.
Roston Chase was dismissed by Zahir Khan cheaply when he was struggling to negate turn, with the ball ending up as an edge to the short leg. All the damage was caused by Afghanistan’s spinners. Rashid would’ve had another only if Afsar Zazai had not put Brooks down when on 59.
Afghanistan, which was operating throughout the session with spinners, introduced pace five minutes shy of lunch. While runs dried up in the last half hour of the session, Shane Dowrich and Brooks kept Afghanistan at bay, scoring 127 runs in the session with their 45-run stand.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 187 (Javed Ahmadi 39, Afsar Zazai 32; Rahkeem Cornwall 7-75) trail West Indies 195/5 (John Campbell 55, Shamarh Brooks 75*; Amir Hamza 2-59, Rashid Khan 2-74) by 8 runs.
