Day 1: Top 5 moments of India vs West Indies
Dec 31, 2018 at 1:56 PM
India dominated the first day of the test series by ending day 1 on 302 for 4 at Antigua. Kohli led the way with a captain’s knock who is still not out on 143. The other batsmen did not capitalize on starts and threw their wickets away. For West Indies, Bishoo was the pick of the bowlers who picked 3 wickets for 108 runs.
- Virat Kohli’s captain’s knock
The Indian test captain came at the crease after the fall of Murali Vijay wicket. At that moment India were 14 for 1. He looked in great touch right from the start and played wonderful strokes. Kohli completed his half-century off 75 balls. Pujara, Dhawan, and Rahane fell at the other but Kohli remained calm. Kohli attacked their premier spinner Bishoo and kept the run rate flowing. He completed his century in 134 balls. After completing his century he made the West Indies bowler pay. Kohli remained not out on 143.
2. Dhawan coming back to form
After an early wicket of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan looked in good touch hitting the bad balls away for boundaries and respecting the good balls. Dhawan and Pujara got to lunch at 72 for 1. He was not out on 46. After the lunch break, Pujara was dismissed early. Dhawan played some wonderful strokes and created pressure on West Indies bowlers. Before the stroke of Tea, Dhawan was dismissed for 84.
3. Devendra Bishoo the only saving grace for West Indies
West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo was the only bowler to put some pressure on the strong Indian batting line-up. He picked the wickets of Pujara after the lunch break and also took the wicket of Dhawan before the tea break. As the partnership between Kohli and Rahane was going on, Bishoo gave another breakthrough for West Indies. Bishoo bowled lots of overs on the first day. He was not able to get through the big wicket of Kohli. Bishoo bowled 27 overs and picked up 3 wickets giving 108 runs.
4. Ineffective pace bowling
West Indies choose to go with 3 pace bowlers. Gabriel , Holder and Carlos Braithwaite were the options for West Indies skipper Holder. Gabriel bowled well in the first session picking the wicket of Murali Vijay. After that Carlos Braithwaite did gave tough times for Kohli but none of the bowlers were able to put pressure on Indian batting line up. All of them struggled to put consistent pressure on Indian batting line up.
5. Regular partnerships
The Indian batsmen put on good partnerships for the third, fourth and fifth wicket. Dhawan and Kohli put on 105 runs for the third wicket before Dhawan was dismissed for 84 at the stroke of tea. Rahane and Kohli put on 57 for the fourth wicket. Kohli and Ashwin have put an unbroken stand of 66 not out stand. India ended day 1 on 302 for 4.