West Indies 86 for 1 (Brathwaite 37 not ou, Jadeja 1-12) trail India 438 (Kohli 121, Rohit 80, Jadeja 61, Ashwin 56, Warrican 3-89) by 352 runs
By Prior Beharry
SCORING his 29th Test century has made Virat Kohli the fifth most prolific Indian scorer of runs in the longest version of the game.
In the 100th Test match between India and West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval, Kohli made 121 before he was run out for only the third time in his Test career. He ended on 87 not out after the first day but was out before lunch after initially hesitating for a single.
India were bowled out for the first time in the two-match series on 438 just before tea on the second day on Friday.
Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja shared the highest partnership of the innings of 159 – 20 more than openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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At the end of the visitors’ innings there were four half-centuries – Sharma (80), Jaiswal (57), Jadeja (61) and Ravichandran Ashwin (56) – in addition to Kohli’s ton.
West Indies showed some resistance having batted for 41 overs and losing only one wicket of Tagenarine Chanderpaul to Jadeja for 33. Captain Kraigg Brathwaite is still there on 37 with debutant Kirk McKenzie on 14.
Kohli’s century meant that he has passed Virenda Sehwag becoming India’s fifth most prolific scorer of Test runs behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), his coach Rahul Dravid (13,288), Sunil Gavaskar (10,122) and VVX Laxman (8,781).
The current player is on 8,676 Test runs.
Kohli is 23rd overall in terms of Test runs and is third with most centuries of active cricketers behind Steve Smith (32) and Joe Root (30).
He had surpassed Kane Williamson with 28 and on par with the legendary Australian Sir Donald Bradman.
This was his first century away from home since 2018 when he scored four tons.
His 121 is his second in the Caribbean with his first converted into a double century at North Sound in Antigua in 2016 when he was captain. He had made 200.
Play in the second Test resumes at 10 am on Saturday.
