India vs West Indies, Second Test: 3 Things you may have missed from Day 1

The Windies team ended up at 295/7 at stumps on day one at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad with India still having the upper hand. Their returning Captain Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bat first on a good batting track. The Indian bowlers kept taking regular wickets but were stymied by the lower batting order of Windies. Roston Chase (98) and Devendra Bishoo (2) are the not out batsmen as things stand by the end of day one.

It was an eventful day in Hyderabad. India handed the Test cap to Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Shami was rested for this Test. Windies, on the other hand, received a welcome boost as Jason Holder was fit to play the match. The tourists surprisingly decided to not select Kemar Roach and picked Jomel Warrican instead. After a decent start, WI found themselves dangerously exposed at 113/5.

All-rounder Roston Chase and the wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich subsequently raised a fighting partnership of 69 runs for the sixth wicket. Umesh Yadav in his comeback spell trapped Dowrich in front of the stumps and broke the stand. It was Jason Holder, who took the place of Dowrich and supported Chase in the 104-run partnership before he fell for 52.

Here are three unnoticed things from the first day’s play between India and Windies:

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#3 Hat-trick of debutants

Today, Shardul Thakur received the Test cap of India and became the 294th cricketer in the great cricketing tradition of the giant nation. The right-arm bowler from Mumbai is renowned for his skiddy pace and was part of the Indian Test squad for a long time. With Mohammed Shami being rested, Thakur stepped up to make his debut. Sadly, he attracted a groin injury in his second over and was ruled out for the day.

However, Shardul’s Test debut is the third consecutive Test debut for India in as many Tests. In the fifth Test at the Oval against England, the middle-order batsman from Andhra, Hanuman Vihari played his first Test for the nation. In the last Test at Rajkot, opening batsman Prithvi Shaw began his Test career with a stellar century. Shardul’s debut today completes a hat-trick of Test debuts for India.

Shardul’s inclusion in the side also increased the number of Mumbai cricketers playing in the team from two to three with Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw being the other two. Last such union occurred in 2014 when Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Zaheer Khan played a Test match together

#2 Kuldeep Yadav completes the century of International wickets

The left-arm wrist-spinner from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Yadav, has taken the Indian cricket by storm. The 23-year old made his ODI debut in June 2017 against the West Indies in the Caribbean. Soon he was given a chance in the shortest format of the game as well. The left-arm bowler then successfully replaced the likes of Jadeja and Ashwin in the limited overs team.

Kuldeep is now flourishing at the Test level as well and has taken enormous strides in bowling with the red-ball. Today, the wrist-spinner captured three wickets against Windies. He dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite, Shimron Hetmyer and Sunil Ambris to reduce WI to 113/5. The master of googly therefore raised his tally of Test wickets to 18.

With these 18 wickets in Tests, Kuldeep Yadav has completed 100 international wickets. He already has 58 wickets in ODIs and 24 wickets in T20Is. It has taken him 47 innings, and he has three five-wicket hauls in total (one in each format).

#1 Windies’ longest Test innings in last seven years

The Windies team batted throughout the day today and survived the first day of the second Test against India without getting all-out. Despite being 113/5 at one stage, batsmen from Caribbean islands did not give up and put up brave fight inspired by Roston Chase and Jason Holder. By the end of the day one, Windies scored 295/7 in 95 overs and will hope to continue strong tomorrow as well.

After the capitulation in the first Test, the cricket fans all around the world were happy to see such fight from the Windies. In the first Test at Rajkot, WI was all out for 181 and 196, playing only 98.5 overs in total. They conceded an enormous defeat of an innings and 272 runs. After such performance, today’s display of batting out 95 overs was a significant effort.

The data backs the argument. The last time Windies batted for more than 95 overs in India was in November 2011 when they scored 590 runs in the first innings at Mumbai. After that, WI in their next seven innings has been all out even before the new ball was available. Before today’s 295/7, last seven scores for WI in India read 134, 234, 168, 182, 187, 181 and 196.