NEW DELHI: Shai Hope ended an agonising wait for a Test century at the perfect moment, as the West Indies were struggling after being asked to follow on in the second Test against India in Delhi on Monday.

It had been a long and testing period for Hope in the red-ball format, with this being his first Test hundred in eight years since his twin tons against England in 2017.

Hope went 58 innings between Test centuries - more than Jermaine Blackwood's 47, Chris Gayle's 46, Dwayne Bravo's 44, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 41.

However, there was a lapse in concentration as Hope could not maintain the momentum after his third Test century. Pacer Mohammed Siraj trapped him with a wobble-seam back-of-a-length delivery that caught the inside edge and rattled the middle stump.

Most innings between two Test 100s (West Indies)

58 Shai Hope (2017-25) – streak ended today
47 Jermaine Blackwood (2015-20)
46 Chris Gayle (2005-08)
44 Dwayne Bravo (2005-09)
41 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1998-02)

West Indies had been staring down the barrel after India enforced the follow-on, having bowled out the visitors for 248 in the first innings. But John Campbell (115) and Hope stepped up when it mattered most, putting on a 177-run stand for the third wicket to help the team avoid an innings defeat.

This was the first time in 11 Tests where West Indies, following on, managed to avoid an innings loss. The last instance came against New Zealand in Dunedin in 2013, when they held on for a draw.

Campbell and Hope also became the first pair of batters to score centuries in the same innings following on since Dimuth Karunaratne (141) and Kusal Mendis (110) did so against India at Colombo SSC in 2017.