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Kohli ton gives India shot at domination
- Updated: July 21, 2016
India 302 for 4 (Kohli 143*, Dhawan 84, Bishoo 3-108) v West IndiesScorecard and ball-by-ball details
In the lead-up to this series, India’s captain Virat Kohli arranged a meeting with Viv Richards, to take his blessings, in the words of Richards. On the first day of the series, at a ground named after Richards, Kohli, a batsman who has been compared with Richards by more than a few, showed all the intent that was a hallmark of Richards. He picked five bowlers, going for specialists ahead of those who can bat; he went with Shikhar Dhawan, who brings the possibility of quicker runs than KL Rahul; and he chose to bat first when the first session on this pitch was the only one expected to offer bowlers any assistance on the first three days.
Most importantly, with India in a spot of bother at 74 for 2 and struggling to score freely, Kohli batted with similar intent, albeit against a limited attack that must have been close to tiring out, and scored an unbeaten 143, his 12th Test century and his first against West Indies, to put India in a position from where they could look to dominate, a goal they seemed to have set themselves at the start of the series. To make it better for Kohli, his selection of Dhawan played off. Some considered him lucky to be playing in this Test, he enjoyed some luck against testing bowling at the start of the innings, but Dhawan helped India keep a disciplined West Indies attack at bay with his first half-century in eight innings. The two added 105 in 27.1 overs; the previous 74 runs had taken 27.4 overs.
India would have expected to work hard for their runs when they chose to bat on a slow pitch surrounded by a slow outfield in St John’s, but hands in front of helmets as protective action wouldn’t have been on the agenda. In their first Test under new bowling coach Roddy Estwick, the West Indies attack, thin on numbers but displaying tenacity, tested the Indian top order in the first session of the series. Shannon Gabriel, making a Test comeback after a good comeback in the ODI triangular series earlier in the season, rattled the openers with his pace, accounting for M Vijay with a lovely bouncer, but Dhawan was prepared to weather the storm before …
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