India's 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle has begun with the first Test against West Indies at Windsor Park, Dominica.
Rohit Sharma's side were looking to bounce back from an excruciating WTC Final loss to Australia last month at The Oval in London.
And the Test has followed expected lines with India bowling out West Indies cheaply for 150. They've followed it up with a commanding batting performance that is threatening to put the game beyond West Indies.
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West Indies vs India first Test Day 2 live updates, highlights
STUMPS: India 312/2 (113 overs), lead West Indies by 162 runs.
Jaiswal 146*, Kohli 36*, Warrican 1/82, Athanaze 1/33
That's it for this second day, which India have again controlled.
Jaiswal and Rohit scored comprehensive centuries on the way to setting the tourists up for a commanding lead, with Jaiswal remaining unbeaten on 143 and Virat Kohli joining him on 36 not out.
Leading from the front💪
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) July 13, 2023
Rohit Sharma completes a classy 10th Test ton 💯 #SabJawaabMilenge #WIvIND #JioCinema pic.twitter.com/7Ni0qw4IuK
The slow pitch made life difficult for West Indies to get wickets, and has also made it challenging for India to increase the speed of their runs in the final session.
Kohli typified their cautious approach, and didn’t hit his first boundary until the 80th ball.
Jaiswal’s maiden Test century on debut remains the highlight. He broke the record for most balls faced by an Indian batsman on Test debut and became the 17th Indian opener to score a hundred in his first appearance.
There was also a landmark for Kholi, who is now just the fifth Indian to pas 8,500 Test runs.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite had nine bowlers bowling today. His most lethal bowler, Rakheem Cornwall, had to walk off in the middle of the day with a chest infection and didn’t return in the third session.
By stumps, 72 runs had been added by Kohli and Jaiswal for third wicket. India will look to bat the whole day again tomorrow and put themselves firmly beyond reach.
2:40 pm local time (12:10 am IST): TEA on Day 2
India 245/2 (81 overs)
Jaiswal 116*, Kohli 4*, Warrican 1/66, Althanaze 1/24
Another session India has dominated despite losing a couple of wickets towards the end. After a slow first session on Day 2, India scored 101 runs in the second session, accelerating their scoring as Jaiswal and Rohit brought up their tons.
West Indies pacers could not tie down the duo despite testing them with short deliveries. In the end, Rohit was the first wicket to fall, with Althanaze's spinning ball from around the wicket, taking the inside edge off the pad and popping up for the keeper.
The Shubman Gill experiment at No.3 also failed, with the star batsman edging left-arm spinner Warrican to second slip. Kohli survived a few nervous moments before tea but will look to up the ante and take India's lead nearer to 200 by the end of the day.
Apni ballebaazi 🔥 se inhone ne kara #Windies ko behaal 🥵
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) July 13, 2023
Padhare debut pe shatakveer Yashasvi Jaiswal 💯#WIvIND #SabJawaabMilenge #JioCinema pic.twitter.com/rIn6nAF6ub
2:18 pm local time (11:48 pm IST): India 229/1 (75.4 overs)
Skipper Rohit Sharma follows suit with a sublime century. A 10th Test match ton for the Mumbaikar. And only the second century overseas. Rohit now has overseas Test tons in England and West Indies.
But he falls immediately after, offering a bat-pad catch off Alick Althanaze who gets his debut Test scalp. And what a wicket at that.
1:52 pm local time (11:22 pm IST): India 209/0 (70 overs)
A century on debut for young Yashasvi Jaiswal. A terrific innings from the youngster. Though it has come against a mediocre West Indies attack, he has looked right at home to join an exclusive list of Indian batsmen to have scored a ton on Test debut.
12:03 pm local time (9:33 pm IST): LUNCH!
India 146/0 after 55 overs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal 62* (167), Rohit Sharma 68* (163)
India once again dominated the first session of day 2 with both openers completing their half-centuries. The surface has been extremely slow and sluggish and runscoring has not been smooth. India put on just 64 runs in the session but have not lost any wickets. Apart from the odd question asked by Rahkeem Cornwall, Rohit Sharma and Yashavi Jaiswal have been largely untroubled.
With 10 wickets still in hand, India will now aim to expedite their innings so that they take a healthy lead at the end of day 2's play.
11:09 am local time (8:39 pm IST): Half-century for Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. Indians are cruising at the moment.
10:42 am local time (8:12 pm IST): Maiden half-century for Yashasvi Jaiswal in his first-ever Test match. Dream debut for the Rajasthan Royals star!
10:00 am local time (7:30 pm IST): Action commences on Day 2
West Indies vs India first Test Day 1 live updates
STUMPS ON DAY 1: India 80/0, trail West Indies (150) by 70 runs (Yashasvi 40*, Rohit 30*).
India's domination of Day 1 of this Test was clear for all to see, as the tourists close the day in a commanding position at Windsor Park.
After a five-wicket haul from Ravichandran Ashwin (5/60) saw India bowl out the hosts for a poor 150 in their first innings, they then took control with the bat.
In a final session interrupted very briefly by rain, skipper Rohit Sharma and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal raced to 80 for no loss in 23 overs to seize the upper hand.
Jaiswal looked at home on his promotion to the Test side, hitting six fours in his unbeaten 73-ball knock to set his side up for Day 2.
That's Stumps on Day 1 of the opening #WIvIND Test!#TeamIndia move to 80/0, with captain Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal making a fine start.
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 12, 2023
We will be back tomorrow for Day 2 action!
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/FWI05P4Bnd pic.twitter.com/aksOAvowGc
3:51 pm (2:21 am IST): The covers are off and play resumes, with India 66/0 in reply.
3:47 pm (2:17 am IST): The rain has started to come down in Dominica. It looks like just a passing shower, so hopefully we will not be delayed for too long.
1:40 pm local time (12:10 am IST): TEA
WI: 137/8 (58 overs)
Rahkeem Cornwall 8*, Kemar Roach 0*, R Ashwin 4/49, R Jadeja 2/24
The second session has finally come to and end for the Windies. They've crumbled to 137/8 at the end of that session, with Ashwin taking two wickets more to take his innings tally to four.
It was Jadeja who got the ball rolling early on in the session, sending back Joshua Da Silva who tried to cut and ended up edging him to the keeper. Though Althanaze (47) and Holder (18) put up a fight of sorts, stitching a 41-run stand, Siraj's short-ball strategy was too tempting for Holder.
It wasn't long before Ashwin got his 700th international wicket with a carrom ball that deceived Alzarri Joseph's attempted slog. He also dismissed Althanaze with a quicker short ball which was mistimed to midwicket.
The Windies crumbled like cookies and will now play catch-up against a very strong team.
11:00 am local time (9:30 pm IST): LUNCH
WI: 68/4 (28 overs)
Alick Althanaze 13*, R Ashwin 2/25, R Jadeja 1/6
It's lunch on day 1 and India have absolutely dominated the hosts on a sluggish surface.
It was Brathwaite who elected to bat after winning the toss but the slow nature of the surface meant Rohit Sharma introduced Ashwin very quickly in the game. And his star spinner did not disappoint.
He priced out Chanderpaul with an absolute peach of a delivery that turned the batsman square and took the top of off. Ashwin then went on to dismiss Brathwaite who holed out going for a big shot.
R Ashwin. Instant impact. #WIvIND #SabJawaabMilenge #JioCinema pic.twitter.com/jh1ZcPtpy6
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) July 12, 2023
As you can read here, in dismissing Chanderpaul, Ashwin also joined an exclusive bowling club.
As Ashwin mounted the pressure, Shardul Thakur benefitted with Raymon Reifer nicking him behind going for an expansive shot. At the stroke of lunch, Jadeja sent back Jermaine Blackwood with Siraj holding on to a stunning catch at mid on.
For West Indies, firmly on the backfoot already, the only positive was the temperament shown by debutant Althanaze so far.
Windsor Park: Pitch Report
The pitch at Windsor Park seems to be slightly dry and should help spinners as the game goes by.
For detailed information on stadium records and history at the venue, read this piece.
Playing XIs: India hand debuts to Jaiswal and Kishan
West Indies XI: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Althanaze (debut), Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Rahkeem Cornwall, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal (debut), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wk, debut), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj
READ: Should Virat Kohli be reappointed India Test captain?
West Indies vs India first Test toss report
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and elected to bat first in what is the first Test at Dominica in six years.
He said, "Surface is generally dry, but there's moisture in the first hour. We had a ten-day camp in Antigua. Lara was there, that was good for our young batters."
Rohit Sharma, after losing the toss, said, "We started off with Barbados, played a practice game there. We've had good prep here even though rain played spoilsport a little. Just want the debutants to enjoy. They will have nerves but it's our responsibility to make sure they enjoy."
West Indies vs India first Test: Live streaming details
FanCode, the exclusive streaming partner of the West Indies cricket team, holds the rights to all West Indies games played in the Caribbean.
However, Dream Sports, FanCode's parent company, has sub-licensed the streaming rights with JioCinema, which gained a lot of followers during IPL 2023 but has since experienced some sort of a decline.
JioCinema will live stream the matches for free to all users.
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West Indies vs India first Test: TV channel details
West Indies vs India first Test will be televised on Doordarshan (DD), India's public broadcaster.
With six DD Network channels airing the broadcast in six different languages, this will be the most comprehensive coverage of an India bilateral series on a free-to-air channel ever.
The matches will be broadcast on DD Sports, DD Podhigai, DD Saptagiri, DD Yadagiri, DD Bangla, and DD Chandana.
