West Indies Hope to use a New ball Effectively on day 2 to Stage Comeback

By Gurmeet
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Updated: July 21, 2023
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“Satisfied” with how the opening day went, hosts West Indies hope to utilise the new ball and get early breakthroughs on Friday, said assistant coach Kenny Benjamin.

Opting to bowl, the hosts had an under-par morning session but staged a fightback. They struck four times, limiting India to 288/4 on Thursday.

“We were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t pick up a wicket or two till lunch but then we did well to get four wickets,” Benjamin said after the end of day’s play on Thursday.

“Hopefully, tomorrow we will have a chance to start with the new ball if we do, we hope to get a couple of breakthroughs and get ourselves back into the game,” he added.

Rohit Sharma (80) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (57) gave India a perfect start as they shared a 139-run stand but the runs dried up in the afternoon as West Indies got rid of the two openers, Shubman Gill (10) and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (8).

However, an unbeaten 106-run stand between Virat Kohli (87 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (36 not out) put India back on track.

“Kudos to Virat and Jadeja, they played very well, they are experienced. Virat is a very special player and the two took that session away from us, but overall it was a satisfying day.” Kohli, playing his 500th Test, is 13 runs shy of his first hundred in an overseas Test since December 2018.

“If he is threatening (to score a century) then he will have to work for it, we will not hand it to him,” Benjamin said.

West Indies bowled with a plan and purpose in the second session and the former pacer, who played 92 Tests and 33 ODIs between 1992-1998, hopes the bowlers can help the home side stage a comeback by executing their plans similarly in the opening session on Friday.