In his 500th game, Virat Kohli scored his 76th international century, making him the star of Day 2 of the second Test match between India and West Indies on Friday, July 21. India’s highest scorer was Virat Kohli, who contributed 121 runs to his side’s total of 438 runs along with fifty-plus scores from captain Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin.
In response, the West Indies started slowly but eventually reached 86/1 at the end of Day 2, with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk McKenzie trying to keep their team in the game.
Prior to Day 3, the hosts are in arrears with India by 352 runs after the Caribbean team trounced India in the second and third sessions.
Both Indian batsmen maintained their attack in the first session as they broke their respective milestones after strong batting performances from Kohli, who was at 87* overnight, and Jadeja, who concluded at 36*.
In his 500th game, Kohli reached his 29th Test century and 76th overall, while Jadeja added a critical fifty as their partnership reached 100.
As the West Indies attempted a comeback just before lunch, Kohli left at 121 while Jadeja left after reaching 61.
Alzarri Joseph’s throw removed Kohli, who was run out for only the third time in his Test career, just when it seemed like he and Jadeja may out-bat the Windies.
Ishan Kishan scored 25 runs on his second attempt at red-ball cricket before he was dismissed, and Ravichandran Ashwin assumed responsibility for leading India over 400.
Ashwin, who had previously scored three hundred against the West Indies, reached his fifty by hitting back-to-back boundaries against Kemar Roach. However, as wickets kept falling at the other end, the Indian spinner was the last player to leave the field with 438 runs scored.
The Windies used what they had learned from their last defeat at the hands of Indian bowling as openers Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul got off to a cautious start.
They put up a key opening partnership of 71 runs, frustrating the Indian bowlers for the whole of the third session until Jadeja dismissed Chanderpaul to get things started.
Since he joined his skipper in the middle, McKenzie has shown promise as the Windies combination helped their team reach 86/1 before the end of an exciting day of cricket.
