India has regained the upper hand over West Indies after an unbroken century stand between Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja on Thursday, the first day of the second and final test match.
India’s score was 288 for four when stumps were called on the day.
India got off to a solid start at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad when they were given the opportunity to bat, but they struggled in the afternoon session.
After tea, Kohli continued to play with the extreme care of a guy who was determined to make a huge impression on the 500th international encounter. His undefeated 87 (161 balls, eight fours) together with the backing of Jadeja’s unbeaten 36 helped India regain control of the game.
Their stand of 106 tormented the Caribbean team throughout the extended final session, forcing the captain of the Caribbean side, Kraigg Brathwaite, to turn to his own loopy off-breaks in an attempt to find a breakthrough.
Both the captain, Rohit Sharma, and Yashasvi Jaiswal picked up where they left off in the first Test, which resulted in a different pace at the beginning of the match.
They started the match at Windsor Park Stadium a week earlier by putting up 229 for the first wicket, which set the stage for a crushing win over the course of three days by an innings and 141 runs.
This time, they raced to 121 runs before lunch, and then added another 18 runs in the afternoon, when Jason Holder finally provided some much-needed discipline to the West Indies bowling.
He was rewarded with the wicket of Jaiswal for 57, which was taken by rookie batsman Kirk McKenzie with a low catch at deep gully.
That was the impetus for a minor decline, which culminated in Shubman Gill being caught behind by Kemar Roach for 10 runs, which was his second straight loss at the number three position. Next up was Sharma, who was out for 80 after being bowled by a ball from left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican that was well placed.
At the stroke of tea, Shannon Gabriel, the second change for the West Indies from the first Test, uprooted Rahane’s off-stump. Prior to this, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane seemed to have weathered the storm that occurred in the middle of the day.
Gabriel, who was fatigued at the end of the day, reflected on his one wicket by saying, “It felt like the heavens came down because not much was happening out there,”
“During the first session, we were all over the place, but during lunch, we worked out our plans a lot better and were able to earn the reward.” We consider it a success that we were able to take four wickets despite the fact that this surface offers the bowlers very little opportunity for success.
In lieu of seam bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, the Indian national team will be introducing right-arm fast-medium bowler Mukesh Kumar for his first game.
The first Test match between the West Indies and India took place in Delhi in November 1948. That match marked the beginning of the Caribbean side’s historic maiden journey to the sub-continent. This match will be the 100th Test match between the two teams.
In spite of the fact that they haven’t won a match against their rivals for more over 21 years, the West Indies still have a 30-23 victory advantage against India throughout all 99 Test matches.