India Vs West Indies 2nd Test: India 288/4 on the first day, Virat 13 runs away from 29th century, 106 runs partnership with Jadeja so far

Posted on 21st Jul 2023 by rohit kumar

The second and final match of the two-Test series between India and West Indies is being played at Port of Spain. Batting first after losing the toss, India scored 288 runs for four wickets till the end of the first day's play. Virat Kohli is unbeaten on 87 runs in 161 balls and Ravindra Jadeja is unbeaten on 36 runs in 84 balls. So far, there has been a partnership of 106 runs in 201 balls between the two.

 

This match is special for Virat

This is Virat's 500th international match. He is India's fourth and overall 10th cricketer to reach this milestone. Before him, Sachin Tendulkar (664), Mahela Jayawardene (652), Kumar Sangakkara (594), Sanath Jayasuriya (586), Ricky Ponting (560), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (538), Shahid Afridi (524), Jacques Kallis (519) And Rahul Dravid (509) has done so.

 

Rohit and Yashasvi gave a good start to Team India

Team India had a great start. By lunch, India had scored 121 runs in 26 overs without losing a wicket. Then Team India was scoring at a run rate of around five. This was the third time that the Indian team reached lunch on the first day without losing a wicket on West Indies soil. Earlier on April 21, 1976, Gavaskar and Anshuman had taken India to the lunch break without losing a wicket in Kingston. Then India scored 62 runs without losing wickets till lunch break on the first day. Whereas, this happened for the second time on June 10, 2006. Then Wasim Jaffer and Sehwag did not let any wicket fall till lunch break on the first day in St. Lucia and added 140 runs.

 

Rohit-Yashaswi's century opening partnership in the second consecutive test

Yashasvi scored 50+ on the second consecutive test. In the last Test played in Dominica, he scored an inning of 171 runs. Yashasvi completed his half-century off 49 balls. At the same time, Captain Rohit, playing with him well, scored the 15th half-century of his Test career. However, the Indian innings faltered in the second session after lunch. Yashasvi got out soon after lunch. He scored an inning of 57 runs in 74 balls with the help of nine fours and a six. There was a 139-run partnership for the first wicket between Yashasvi and Rohit.

 

Record partnership between Yashasvi and Rohit

This was the century partnership between the two in the second consecutive Test. Earlier, there was a 229-run partnership between the two in the Dominica Test. In Test cricket, the pair Rohit and Yashasvi have jointly reached second place in terms of most consecutive century partnerships as Indian openers. The Indian opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay have the most consecutive century partnerships in Test cricket. Both of them had shared a century partnership thrice in 2008-09. Apart from Rohit-Yashaswi, Sunil Gavaskar-Farukh Engineer (1973-74), Sunil Gavaskar-Anshuman Gaekwad (1976), Sunil Gavaskar-Arun Lal (1982) and Sadagopan Ramesh and Devang Gandhi (1999) are in second place. Rohit-Yashaswi is the second opening pair to have scored two consecutive hundreds in a series after Sadagopan and Devang in the 1999 Test series against New Zealand.

 

Rohit and Yashasvi have jointly reached first place with two-century partnerships in terms of most century partnerships by Indian openers in an away series ie Test series on foreign soil. Before these two, Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan (England, 1979), Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra (Australia, 2003/04), and Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer (West Indies, 2006) have done so twice each.

 

Shubman Gill and Rahane flop again

After Yashasvi's dismissal, new number-three Shubman Gill came out to bat. However, he failed at this number in the second consecutive Test. After the ouster of Cheteshwar Pujara, India are looking for their new number three. Shubman himself had expressed his desire to become number three, but it seems that he is not liking this number. After scoring 10 runs, he was caught by Kemar Roach and caught by wicketkeeper Joshua. In the last Test in Dominica, Shubman scored just six runs while batting at number three.

 

Captain Rohit, who is getting close to the century, also lost the wicket on the ball of spinner Warrican. Rohit played an inning of 80 runs in 143 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes. Ajinkya Rahane, who was made vice-captain for this series just before tea, also lost his wicket. He also flopped in the second consecutive test. Rahane could score eight runs. He was clean-bowled by Shannon Gabriel. In the last Test in Dominica, Rahane scored three runs.

 

Virat and Jadeja handled the innings

In the second session ie from lunch to tea, India scored 61 runs in 24.4 overs and lost four wickets. In the third session, Ravindra Jadeja came to support Virat Kohli. He was once again given a chance before Ishaan Kishan. Jadeja capitalized on this opportunity and did not let any wicket fall in the third session. India scored 106 runs in 33.2 overs without losing any wickets from the third session till the end of the day's play.

 

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli scored the 30th half-century of his Test career. He completed his half-century off 97 balls. Till the end of the day's play, Virat is unbeaten on 87 and Jadeja is on 36. Virat is just 13 runs away from his 29th Test century. By scoring a century in this match, Virat would like to make his 500th international match special. For the Windies, Roach, Gabriel, Warrican, and Holder have taken one wicket each so far.

 

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