West Indies crawl to 31/1 at stumps on Day 2 versus India
North Sound (Antigua), July 23 (IANS) West Indies managed to crawl their way to 31/1 in 16 overs at stumps on the second day of the first Test against India at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium here on Friday.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Devendra Bishoo stayed put at 11 and 0 respectively. India's only successful bowler was pacer Mohammed Shami who managed to get rid of Rajendra Chandrika for 16.
Post tea, India declared their first innings after amassing a massive total of 566/8. India skipper Virat Kohli top scored for India with a 283-ball 200. Ravichandran Ashwin was the other major contributor with 113 of 253 deliveries.
Kraigg was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts returning figures of 3/65.
West Indies had to toil hard in the field right from the start of the Aday but with the second ball after lunch they finally struck as pacer Shannon Gabriel got Kohli to edge one onto his stumps. The delivery kept a little low and the Indian skipper who had been middling almost everything en route to his double ton, for once failed.
Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha next walked out into the middle to join Ashwin and both ensured they had another strong partnership.
Saha was adventurous. Time and again he skipped down the track to loft the spinners. One such chip cost him his wicket too as he was out stumped after getting to 40 of 88 balls. The Ashwin-Saha stand yielded 71 runs for the sixth wicket.
Mishra tried to step on the scoring rate too after walking in and succeeded in doing so by clubbing a few boundaries.
Ashwin fell just after tea and Mishra followed him into the dressing room shortly after getting to his fifty (53).
Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 302/4, Kohli and Ashwin proceeded to strengthen India's position with some sensible batting.
Playing on a pitch well suited for batting under the sunny Carribbean sky, the duo studiously avoided taking too much risk, focussing instead on keeping the run rate ticking on at a steady slow rate.
They were helped on in no small measure by the toothless West Indies bowling attack. Except for Gabriel and Bishoo, the other West Indies bowlers seemed quite ordinary and never looked capable of taking wickets.
Kohli and Ashwin managed to find the gaps at regular intervals and the latter brought up his half-century in style, sending a Brathwaite delivery to the point boundary with a sublime punch off the back foot.
The skipper was also going great guns at the other end. Kohli, who resumed the second day on a personal score of 143, reached the 150-run mark with a superb pull off Gabriel for a boundary.
He registered the highest score by an Indian captain when he reached the 193-run mark, going past the previous mark set by Mohammad Azharuddin, who made 192 against New Zealand at Auckland in February 1990.
The Indian seemed to slow down a bit and became more cautious as the double century approached, eventually reaching the landmark with a single off Roston Chase.
Brief scores:
India: A566/8 declared (Virat Kohli 200, Ravichandran Ashwin 113.; Kraigg Brathwaite 3/65) vs West Indies 31/1 (Rajendra Chandrika 16; Mohammed Shami 1/6)
--IANS
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