In a tale of three sessions, India ended the opening day of the second and final Test against West Indies the better placed of the two sides. India won the pre-lunch and post-tea periods at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. West Indies made a strong comeback in the second session, taking four wickets, but were not as effective before and after that.
India would have expected to end the day on a stronger note following an opening partnership of 139 between Rohit Sharma (80) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (57). West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s decision to field with four pace bowlers in the XI seemed to have backfired as the new-ball pairing failed to test the openers outside off stump. But more or less the same bowlers showed better discipline and a definite plan to reduce India to 182-4. Virat Kohli then produced a responsible half-century (87 not out) and took the team to 288-4. Ravindra Jadeja (36) kept him company in a partnership of 106 runs.
Kohli rebuilt the innings after a quiet start. He took 21 balls to get off the mark but played some glorious drives in the cover and extra-cover region. The West Indies bowlers appeared tired in the third session. Kohli and Jadeja were both cautious, and waited for the right deliveries to hit. Their partnership puts West Indies back under pressure.
The way West Indies’ bowlers started, it seemed as if their team was losing the plot. Not only did they not maintain an outside-off line, they sprayed the ball around when the left-handed Jaiswal was on strike. Alzarri Joseph was below-par, bowling outside leg or short and wide outside off, which Jaiswal picked boundaries off. Fresh from making 171 in his debut Test, Jaiswal was not at his best. He got away with a few streaky fours square and behind square on the off side.
Bowling as third change, Jason Holder brought the home team back into the game. He did what Joseph had done to dismiss Jaiswal in the previous Test. He came round the wicket and kept angling the ball across the batter. There was not enough width nor was the ball full enough for Jaiswal to play forcing strokes. Holder had to wait for the ploy to succeed, as Jaiswal kept leaving for a long time until succumbing to temptation when the bowler gave him extra width.
Rohit was far better of the openers. Other than a handful of loose shots, he started middling the ball from the beginning and showing good judgement of where his off stump was. He feasted on some short-pitched deliveries on a pitch mostly devoid of pace and bounce, and also collected boundaries behind square on the off. A second successive century was on the cards when Rohit tried to drive Jomel Warrican, the left-arm spinner, down the wrong line without covering for the spin.
Led by Holder, the West Indies bowlers, with the exception of Joseph, were a lot better after lunch. They opted for a line on or outside off stump and stuck to the plan. Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach came back strongly after being expensive in the first session. These two accounted for Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane, who had both failed in the first Test as well.