India's hopes of wrapping up an early win against the West Indies in Delhi and enjoying an extra day's rest before they travel to Australia were dashed, as the visitors put up an outstanding effort with the bat to push the second and final Test into a fifth day.
The Indians begin a high-profile series in Perth this weekend with stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma making a rare and possibly final appearance in India colours together.
The thoughts of most players and fans are already on that series, even though there is a Test match going on in Delhi to contend with.
Beaten inside three days in the series opener in Ahmedabad, West Indies were made to follow on in the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium after being bowled out for 248 replying to India's 518-5 declared.
The Indian team would have hoped for a straightforward result on the fourth day of the Test. However, John Campbell and Shai Hope had other plans as they continued from where they left off on Sunday.
Both Campbell (115) and Hope (103) made India's bowlers and fielders toil far more than they had anticipated, laying the foundation of a second innings score of 390.
Campbell and Hope combined in a 177-run partnership for the third wicket to push India on to the back foot.
“I can't put it into words right now, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to describe it,” said Campbell.
“We always spoke about the pitch being good to bat on. “As a batsman, once you get a start here, it becomes easier. I think I still went for my shots, it was just about being more selective.”
West Indies' last-wicket pair of Justin Greaves (50 not out) and Jayden Seales (32) defied India in an extended afternoon session, taking the lead past 100 and ending all hopes of a quick run chase by the hosts.
The last-wicket stand of 79 was the fourth best effort by any visiting team in India.
The Caribbean side set India a target of 121 to win the series 2-0. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hit two boundaries in the first over to signal his intentions but fell in the next over trying to launch spinner Jomel Warrican down the ground.
After that, KL Rahul (25 not out) and B Sai Sudharsan (30 not out) calmed things down by ticking the scoreboard along. India reached 63-1 by stumps, just 58 runs away from victory.
“They took their chances, and once the field was spread out, they were really sensible with their game,” India's spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar said.
“The conversation among us was to be really patient and bowl as many good deliveries as possible no matter what.”
Earlier, Campbell survived an anxious moment before reaching his maiden Test hundred after being given out lbw to Ravindra Jadeja.
The batter reviewed the decision, which was overturned after replays confirmed he had edged the ball before it hit his pad.
Campbell struck the left-arm spinner for a six to bring up his hundred in style.
Jadeja returned to trap Campbell lbw, ending the opener's patient knock which included three sixes and 12 fours.
Hope's composed knock ended when he chopped a Mohammed Siraj delivery on to his stumps.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav produced a three-wicket burst to rattle West Indies, dismissing Roston Chase (40) and Khary Pierre in the same over.
But India struggled to take the final wicket as a slow pitch and determined West Indies tail denied them an early finish.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah claimed two lower-order wickets but failed to get the final one, capping a worrying period in his career where he is beginning to go for plenty of runs in limited overs cricket and is also struggling to lead the way in Test matches.
Bumrah finished with impressive looking figures of 3-44 but was introduced only as the fifth change bowler very late in the innings, raising questions about his workload.
Many had expected the team management to rest him for the West Indies series and be available for the full length of the Australia tour.
However, the pace spearhead has been rested from the ODI leg of the tour of Australia and selected for the T20 side.
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep picked up three wickets in the second innings to take his match tally to eight.
