Lunch India 506 for 5 (Kohli 120*, Jadeja 19*) v West Indies
Virat Kohli brought up yet another inevitable-looking hundred, off 184 balls, a more than acceptable pace in Test cricket, but it looked decidedly pedestrian against Rishabh Pant’s domination of a beaten and bruised West Indies attack. Pant fell on 92 off 84 balls, as India added another 142 in the first session of the second day to their overnight 364 for 4.
As is usually the case with innings of such attacking intent, Pant enjoyed some luck. Shemran Lewis bothering him with the short ball for about one over, and Keemo Paul beating his bat as a result of that was the most competitive – albeit fleeting – period of play in this Test.
India had begun smoothly on the second morning, when Lewis began to test Pant with the short ball. On a slow pitch, it should have hardly mattered, but once Pant got a top edge that fell short of deep square leg, an over of uncertainty followed, where an edge fell short of slip and another wide of the bowler. In the next over, Paul pitched it up and Pant threw his hands at it with no feet. Beaten.
With nearly 400 on the board, Pant kept playing his shots, and when they come off they looked amazing. The flick off the pads was the most productive against pace, and once West Indies went back to spin, Pant was all over them. Over midwicket, over mid-on, taking on long-off at the boundary. At one point, Pant threatened to beat Kohli to the century despite starting the day 49 behind. Eventually, there was one shot too many, as he failed to pick a Devendra Bisho googly, and edged a hoick.
There was no such uncertainty around Kohli’s hundred. It seemed like batting practice for him. He was hardly challenged by the bowling and the conditions. It was like a session where a batsman is trying to reinforce the basics in the nets. Leave alone wide balls; drive if it is too full; if it is a touch straight, close the bat face late. He ran hard. There were enough bad balls in between for him to not take any risk to try to put the bowler under pressure. His century was his 24th, taking him past Virender Sehwag on the list of most centuries for India, and placing him behind only Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo