Virat Kohli’s first double-century in any form of first-class cricket and Ravichandran Ashwin’s third Test century against the West Indies anchored India’s formidable first innings total of 566-8 declared on the second day of the first Test on Friday.
Left to negotiate a testing hour before the close of play, the West Indies lost Rajendra Chandrika to a catch at the wicket off Mohammed Shami, leaving opening partner Kraigg Brathwaite and nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo to resume on the third morning at 31-1.
On another day of generally fruitless toil for the West Indies, Kohli extended his batting masterclass from the first day for another two hours, adding another 57 runs to reach exactly 200 just before the lunch interval. He became the first Indian captain to score a Test double-century away from home.
Photo: AP
Any expectation of more of the virtuoso performance was ended off the second delivery upon the resumption when he played on to the persevering and previously unlucky Shannon Gabriel. Kohli’s innings spanned a little more than six hours and was embellished by 24 fours off 283 deliveries.
Dropped on 43 by new wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich off Gabriel in the morning session, Ashwin played the supporting role to his captain in a 168-run fifth-wicket stand that drained the enthusiasm from the home side before lunch.
However, Kohli’s surprise demise put the focus squarely on the all-rounder and he made the most of the promotion to No. 6 in the batting order for the first time in his Test career, reaching three figures just before tea with a boundary off the tiring leg-spinner Bishoo.
“It was great to get pushed up the order,” Ashwin said at the end of the day. “I do not get surprised with what I do, because I really enjoy my batting, but I know I still have a lot of work to do to really establish myself in the top six.”
He got good support from wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who contributed 40 to a 71-run stand for the sixth wicket before he became Dowrich’s first wicketkeeping victim in Test cricket, being stumped off the bowling of part-time off-spinner Brathwaite.
It was the first of three wickets for Brathwaite, who ended Ashwin’s vigil at 113 and then accounted for Amit Mishra for an attacking 53, which prompted the anticipated declaration.
“It is going to take a while for everything to click in the bowling department, because this is a very young group,” West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick said. “Some of our guys need to work on their pace, but it will take some time to get it right.”
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
RSS