Trinidad: After an impressive opening stand of 139 by Rohit Sharma and Yashashvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja consolidated the innings by taking India to 288/4 at the end of Day 1 of the second Test at Port-of-Spain here on Thursday.
At stumps, Kohli and Jadeja were batting on 87 off 161 and 36 off 84 balls, respectively.
The century-run opening partnership catapulted India on the top, but post-lunch session Caribbean bowlers picked up four wickets for 61 runs, leaving the match evenly poised at tea with India reaching 182/4 in 50.4 overs.
India was led with the bat by Jaiswal (57 from 74) and Rohit (80 from 143).
Four bowlers got one wicket each, with Jason Holder (1-30) starting the party. Kemar Roach (1-64), Jomel Warrican (1-55) and Shannon Gabriel (1-50) were the other successful bowlers.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, bowling coach Kenneth Benjamin said, “I believe we were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t pick up a wicket, a wicket or two pre-lunch, but I think we did well after lunch to get 4 wickets. Then kudos to Virat and Jadeja, I thought they played really well.”
Both teams will be eager to stamp their authority on the game in an important morning session on Day 2, with the first ball scheduled to be bowled at 10am.
