Day 1 second Test: India 288 for 4 (Kohli 87 not out, Rohit 80, Jaiswal 57, Holder 1-30, Warrican 1-55) vs West Indies.
By Prior Beharry
WINNING the toss and sending India in to bat came as a surprise to the meagre number of West Indies supporters at the Queen’s Park Oval, but Kraigg Brathwaite and his men took four visitors’ wickets on the first day of the second Test on Thursday.
It was the historic 100th Test between the two nations and even India skipper Rohit Sharma had alluded to the home team bouncing back after the innings and 141-run defeat in the first Test in Dominica last week.
Day one was much better than its equivalent in the first Test for West Indies who had openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sharma back in the pavilion, although both made fifties. West Indies would take that as opposed to centuries.
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Jaiswal was the first to go having been beaten by Jason Holder on at least a couple of times outside the off stump before being caught by debutant Kirk McKenzie in a deepish gully, looking close to a short third man. He made 57 off 74 balls.
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Kemar Roach then had the scalp of Shubman Gill caught behind by Joshua Da Silva for 10.
Sharma looked comfortable hitting the first of his two sixes as early as the fifth over off Roach. But he was deceived by one that beat the edge and took his off stump by Jomel Warrican who was the pick of the bowlers.
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The India captain was disappointed in his 80 off 143 balls which included nine 4s and two 6s. Sharma’s 103 in the first Test propelled him to the Top 10 of the ICC Test Rankings. At Number 10 he is the highest-ranked Indian batsman in front of Rishabh Pant at 11th and Virat Kholi at 14th. He may improve his ranking.
Spurred on by supporters chanting his name in the Duprey Stand, Shannon Gabriel had Ajinkya Rahane stumps cartwheeling after playing on.
Coming in at number four, Kohli took 21 balls to get off the mark with a 4 that just beat the fielder to the long off boundary.
His timing came in with a spectacular square drive early on and then a graceful cover drive in the 57th over off Roach who offered up a wide half-volley. All-in-all Kohli played cautiously by his standards.
He is playing in his 500th international game.
When Kohli entered the iconic Oval pitch, the cheers were the loudest for the day as India were 153 for two.
At the end of play, he was on 87 not out off 161 balls with his partner Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten on 36 from 84 balls.
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The pair’s partnership so far was 106. India ended on 288 for 4.
Warrican benefitted from the Oval pitch that seemed to favour spin as the shadows got longer. The left-arm spinner deserved his figures of 25 overs, 5 maidens, 55 runs for one wicket.
