Top six batsmen all score fiftiesMUMBAI — Darren Bravo tormented India's bowlers with a classy 166 as West Indies racked up a mammoth 575 for nine in its first innings Wednesday, virtually ending the host's hopes of inflicting a whitewash in the final Test at the Wankhede Stadium. The visitors thrashed the home attack on an easy-paced surface on the second day of the third Test before debutant paceman Varun Aaron picked up three wickets in four overs to force a mini collapse in the last session. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin added two more to his overnight tally of two wickets as West Indies, trailing 2-0 in the series, added 308 runs to their overnight total. Bravo continued his rich vein of form, notching up his third ton in the last four Tests, his first career century coming against Bangladesh in Mirpur last month. The top six West Indies batsmen all made half-centuries, forcing India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to resort to desperate measures, including bringing on Sachin Tendulkar to bowl, in search of wickets on a placid pitch. Bravo, the 22-year-old left-hander, brought up his second successive ton with an elegant square-driven boundary off Ashwin and celebrated by kissing his bat before raising it aloft along with his cap. The stylish Bravo, who made 136 in the second innings in the last Test in Kolkata, started the day with two straight-driven fours off Aaron and looked extremely comfortable at the crease throughout his extended stay. The cousin of former West Indies batting great Brian Lara hit 17 boundaries during his 284-ball stay, the only blemish coming Tuesday, when Rahul Dravid dropped him at slip on 33 off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha's bowling. Bravo became Aaron's maiden Test wicket when he edged the paceman to Dhoni, going for a drive away from his body. Dhoni took five catches behind the stumps but dropped a difficult low catch off Marlon Samuels (61), when the batsman was on 46, off the bowling off Aaron. Samuels went on to complete his 13th half-century before he edged Ashwin to Dravid at slip.
