The man who has been dismissed below 10 on only four occasions this year, surely wanted to better his Test record in the country where he made his debut in whites. West Indies now have 18 overs before the day’s play ends. India’s only successful bowler was pacer Mohammed Shami who managed to get rid of Rajendra Chandrika for 16.
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On another day of generally fruitless toil for the West Indies, Kohli extended his batting masterclass from the first day for another two hours, adding another 57 runs to reach exactly 200 just before the lunch interval.
However the West Indies were their own worst enemies in the morning session as Ashwin should have fallen to Shannon Gabriel when on 43 but Shane Dowrich, controversially selected to replace the experienced Denesh Ramdin as wicketkeeper for this match, grassed a straightforward chance.
India can then put pressure on West Indies batting with their 5 specialist bowlers.
Saha was adventurous. Time and again he skipped down the track to loft the spinners.A Once such chip cost him his wicket too as he was out stumped after getting to 40 of 88 balls.
The Indian keeper-batsman started off slow but quickly gained momentum as Roston Chase (0-102) and Kraigg Brathwaite (1-28) were brought on in tandem.
But after that the duo kept the run-rate flowing, bringing up the 200-mark in the 61st over.
Their 50-stand came off 120 balls, after which Saha was stumped off Brathwaite, going for an expansive drive.
He continued to enjoy the excellent support of Ashwin, a gritty, determined battler who has made the most of that generous slice of luck to reach a seventh Test half-century.
All of his three hundreds had come against West Indies but this one had the “all-rounder” tag having been promoted to bat at the important No.6 position. The visitors, meanwhile, doesn’t have a lot of recognised batsmen to follow.
It was Kohli’s maiden first-class double century and he also become the first Indian captain to reach the milestone overseas.
Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin had scored 192 against New Zealand in 1990. However his dismissal of Pujara via a horribly miscued pull in the first over after lunch ushered in Kohli who proceeded to transform the rest of the day into a testament to his ever-increasing stature as a batsman of the highest class.
Kohli continued with his sublime form to effortlessly score his 12th hundred and lead India to 512/6 on the second dat of the first Test.
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Gabriel and Jason Holder then started off the proceedings, as on day one, but the pitch seemed to have eased out considerably as compared to the first morning. Gabriel though was still impressive, and worked up his pace every over. Rahane was almost dismissed cheaply, for 5 runs, as Shannon Gabriel (1-43) induced an edge that fell short of slips.
