India vs West Indies, Second Test: 3 Things you may have missed from Day 1

Image result for West Indies Day 1 batting at Hyderabad

The Windies team ended up at 295/7 at stumps on day one at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad with India still having the upper hand. Their returning Captain Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bat first on a good batting track. The Indian bowlers kept taking regular wickets but were stymied by the lower batting order of Windies. Roston Chase (98) and Devendra Bishoo (2) are the not out batsmen as things stand by the end of day one.

It was an eventful day in Hyderabad. India handed the Test cap to Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Shami was rested for this Test. Windies, on the other hand, received a welcome boost as Jason Holder was fit to play the match. The tourists surprisingly decided to not select Kemar Roach and picked Jomel Warrican instead. After a decent start, WI found themselves dangerously exposed at 113/5.

All-rounder Roston Chase and the wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich subsequently raised a fighting partnership of 69 runs for the sixth wicket. Umesh Yadav in his comeback spell trapped Dowrich in front of the stumps and broke the stand. It was Jason Holder, who took the place of Dowrich and supported Chase in the 104-run partnership before he fell for 52.

Here are three unnoticed things from the first day’s play between India and Windies:

#3 Hat-trick of debutants

Image result for Shardul Thakur debut Test

Today, Shardul Thakur received the Test cap of India and became the 294th cricketer in the great cricketing tradition of the giant nation. The right-arm bowler from Mumbai is renowned for his skiddy pace and was part of the Indian Test squad for a long time. With Mohammed Shami being rested, Thakur stepped up to make his debut. Sadly, he attracted a groin injury in his second over and was ruled out for the day.

However, Shardul’s Test debut is the third consecutive Test debut for India in as many Tests. In the fifth Test at the Oval against England, the middle-order batsman from Andhra, Hanuman Vihari played his first Test for the nation. In the last Test at Rajkot, opening batsman Prithvi Shaw began his Test career with a stellar century. Shardul’s debut today completes a hat-trick of Test debuts for India.

Shardul’s inclusion in the side also increased the number of Mumbai cricketers playing in the team from two to three with Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw being the other two. Last such union occurred in 2014 when Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Zaheer Khan played a Test match together