Ravindra Jadeja delights with maiden Test ton and other takeaways

KOHLI AND PANT INFLICT MORE MISERY ON HAPLESS WINDIES

The visitors had a tough day under the Rajkot sun on Thursday and there was more pain in store for them when they came out to take the field on day two. With Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant well-set, there was no respite for the Windies’ bowlers as runs flowed unabated in the morning session.

It was Pant who did the bulk of the run-scoring in the first session with Kohli content to sit back and play second fiddle. The young wicketkeeper batsman took his toll on a tired and worn out West Indies attack with four sixes flowing off his bat. In contrast, Kohli was a picture of concentration at the crease and accumulated runs with the old-school approach of wearing down the opposition.

The pair added 133 runs for the fifth wicket with Pant scoring 92 of those himself. The 21-year-old missed out on a second Test ton after mishitting Devendra Bishoo to short third-man but Kohli continued his march and brought up an inevitable 24th Test ton in the second session.

The two batsman put paid to any hopes the visitors had of clawing their way back into the game early on day two with their contrasting innings.

LOCAL BOY JADEJA DELIGHTS WITH MAIDEN TEST TON

It was written in the stars. For all his years of service in international cricket, Ravindra Jadeja had never been really able to fulfill his batting promise. For a man who had registered three first-class triple tons for Saurashtra, an international Test ton had eluded him for far too long.

Back on his home ground in Rajkot, the platform had been perfectly laid out for the India all-rounder to shine after Kohli and Pant’s strong showings in the first half of the day. Following their dismissals, Jadeja took it upon himself to push the run-scoring and he thrived in doing so against a tiring Windies attack. The left-hander had to bat with the tail at the latter stages of his innings as he approached a maiden Test hundred.

It seemed like he would run out of partners before getting to the milestone but some decent blocking at the other end by last man Mohammed Shami ensured that the local boy would not miss out on his crowning moment. Jadeja got to the elusive mark with a single and let out a deafening roar as he brought out his customary sword-wielding celebrations.

SHAMI AND SPINNERS STRANGLE WINDIES BATSMEN

With Kohli calling in his men following Jadeja’s landmark ton, a sapped and drained Windies were given a tough task of batting out the final session on day two.

With a mountain to climb in front of them, the visitors faltered and faltered hard. In the very third over of the innings, Mohammed Shami dismissed skipper Kraigg Brathwaite with a sharp in-swinger after setting him up earlier with deliveries that went away from the right-hander. The umpires checked for a front-foot no-ball and adjudged the batsman out despite Shami’s foot being on the line. The India pacer struck again in his next over by trapping Kieran Powell lbw with the West Indies opener even opting for a futile review.

Things went from bad to worse for Brathwaite’s men with Shimron Hetmyer run-out by a mile following a horrible mix-up with Sunil Ambris. The cats were well and truly set among the pigeons for the men from the Caribbean when Ravi Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja came on to bowl. All three Indian spinner struck early in the spells with Ashwin accounting for the dangerous Shai Hope while Jadeja accounted for Ambris. Kuldeep, meanwhile, beat Shane Dowrich all ends up to castle the wicketkeeper batsman at the stroke of stumps to leave the visitors reeling at 74-6.