Tea India438 (Kohli 121, Rohit 80, Jadeja 61, Ashwin 56, Warrican 3-89) vs West Indies
Virat Kohli made his first away Test century in almost five years, and Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin helped themselves to half-centuries, as India piled up 438 in Port-of-Spain. Kemar Roach and Jomel Warrican took three wickets each to bowl India out at the stroke of tea on day two.
Kohli looked like converting his hundred into a big one until Alzarri Joseph’s athletic intervention ran him out for 121. Jadeja looked set for a century of his own, but Roach had him edging a drive behind to Joshua Da Silva for 61. Both overnight batters fell in a space of five overs, but Ashwin marshalled the tail and swelled India’s total towards 450.
The Queen’s Park Oval pitch – and the outfield – had slowed down even further on day two but that didn’t prevent Kohli from pinging the boundary with his punchy drives. One of those drives, which was crunched behind point off Shannon Gabriel, brought Kohli his 76th hundred in his 500th international match. Three balls later, Jadeja reached his fifty and celebrated it with his signature sword dance.
Another Kohli drive, this time off Jason Holder in the 92nd over, was among the contenders for the shot of the match. When Holder served up a half-volley on the stumps, Kohli had originally shaped to flick it away through midwicket, but he ended up half-flicking and half-driving it past mid-off with great authority. There was another drive that he drilled so straight that it knocked out the middle stump at the non-striker’s end.
Jadeja was more circumspect, but he combined well with Kohli to steal singles and doubles from right under the noses of the West Indian fielders. However, the 159-run fifth-wicket stand ended when an uncharacteristic moment of hesitation between the wickets resulted in Kohli getting run out. Joseph swooped on the ball from square leg and capitalised on the chance. Soon after, Roach dismissed Jadeja for 61 after a successful review.
After Ashwin had bedded in with back-to-back drives off Gabriel, West Indies’ quicks tested him with short balls. But Ashwin used the bounce to his advantage and found scoring opportunities. When Roach kept banging it short – but not short enough – outside off, Ashwin leant back and ramped him over slip for a pair of fours. He then brought up his fifty with a slapped four off a similar short ball from Roach. With No. 11 Mukesh Kumar for company, Ashwin backed away and tried to rustle up more boundaries, but Roach knocked him over with his slower variation.