The trip was seen as a learning experience, with captain MS Dhoni making his mark on the new players and getting them acclimated to the worldwide team they may one day lead. “India rely on spin, but I need to see what is presented to us”. Get live cricket score of India vs West Indies here.
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Not called upon by his captain in the morning period of play, when even debutant batsman and part-time off-spinner Roston Chase delivered eight overs, the leg-spinner induced a false shot from Cheteshwar Pujara when called into action for the first over after lunch. In this side we have only got Marlon Samuels, who has played a few Test matches, Darren Bravo is probably the next highest capped West Indies Test player. Half-volley from C Brathwaite, Kohli goes on the front-foot and plays a handsome cover drive to bring up his 20th boundary.
The last hour of the game was then dominated by Kohli and Ashwin as the pair posted 66 in an unbroken, fifth wicket stand.
Earlier, Dhawan looked in discomfort against short bowling, especially Shanon Gabriel. “So we need to give guys a decent run, and know that if something goes wrong, we have a quality player like Rahul waiting in the wings”, he added.
For the hosts, however, the task is more straightforward – simply proving they can still be competitive in the long form of the game.
Dhawan, however, failed to reach the coveted three-figure mark. That’s a No-Ball from Gabriel.
Shannon Gabriel, making a Test comeback after a good showing in the ODI triangular series earlier in the season, rattled the openers with his pace, accounting for M Vijay with a lovely bouncer, but Dhawan was prepared to weather the storm before capitalising on the second string, an older ball and falling intensity. “The Wall” made 146 at St Lucia in 2006.
As Kohli moved into the nineties, Rahane aimed to pull a short ball from Bishoo but was caught at midwicket in the 68th over. “But at the same time, we have four Test matches and you will get a chance at some stage”, said Kohli.
Both the teams have some great players in their squad but the West Indies team is looking to be a bit weaker than the Indian team who are well known for their test match records. India had needed 86 runs from 15 overs with seven wickets in hand and Dhoni made a decision to play for a draw and keep the 1-0 series lead. He was their most economical bowler yesterday.
While Pujara-Rahul were practicing together, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were busy in the adjacent nets.
West Indies are languishing in eighth place in the ICC Test rankings and are expected to be up against when they take on Virat Kohli’s side on home soil.
India are strong favourites to beat the Windies in the four-match series in the Caribbean in the start of a new era under head coach Anil Kumble. “It feels good to bat with him and we were rotating the strike and scoring runs at a good pace”.
Kohli, who scored his first Test century against West Indies on Thursday, has Ravichandran Ashwin (batting on 22) for company and with keeper Wriddhiman Saha perfectly capable of scoring runs, India will hope to extend their batting domination and then leave it to their bowlers.
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The Windies welcome tourists India to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda on July 21 at 10am EST.
