"There's something about him. The high backlift, meeting the ball late, the full booming drive ufffd this is just the Calypso flavour that's missing in modern day West Indies batsmen," a veteran journalist said when Kirk Edwards drove R Ashwin down the ground for a boundary just minutes before the tea interval on Day One of the third Test against India at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.


WI's Kirk Edwards slams one en route his 65 not out on Day One
yesterday. Pic/Suresh kk

The last ball before tea was once again despatched down the ground to the boundary by Edwards. It was a juicy full toss from India offie R Ashwin. Deliveries like those were shockingly played with a dead bat by the Windies openers. Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite. Edwards displayed some more of his class in the final session when he picked some boundaries off Ashwin through the off-side. Clearly, Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha wereu00a0 made to think. They knew of the ramifications if a flighted ball turned into a half volley. And as Edwards' innings progressed both were reluctant to toss the ball.u00a0

Edwards' natural backlift gave him that extra bit of time to drive the spinners. But the stroke that perhaps stood out the most was when he caressed a Varun Aaron length ball, pitched outside off, to the right of mid-on. He also displayed wrists that would make India's VVS Laxman and South African Hashim Amla proud as he steered Aaron past gully foru00a0 four. Towards close of play, Ojha went back to testing him with flight, but Edwards drove him through mid-wicket, again with a full booming drive. Perhaps, the finest of the lot.

In a nutshell, Edwards brought some life into the day's proceedings. Legendary West Indies wicketkeeper Jeff Dujon couldn't agree more "Absolutely... he's looked a class apart. He seems to have found his own way to deal with the spinners. Hopefully, that will keep West Indies in good stead when we tour more on the subcontinent in the years to come," Dujon told MiD DAY.

The Barbadian was unbeaten on 65 at stumps yesterday.