IND vs WI: India recover from Rahane-Rahul’s innings, score 203/6 till stumps

Team India has scored 203 runs by losing 6 wickets in 68.5 overs by the end of the first day’s play. Ravindra Jadeja (3 runs) and Rishabh Pant (20 runs) are at the crease.

The first match of the two-Test series against the West Indies under the World Test Championship is being played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Team India came out to bat first after losing the toss, and by the end of the first day’s play, they had scored 203 runs, losing 6 wickets in 68.5 overs. Ravindra Jadeja  (3 runs) and  Rishabh Pant (20 runs) are at the crease.

A useful partnership of 68 runs was made for the fourth wicket between Lokesh Rahul (44) and Ajinkya Rahane. After this, Rahane and Hanuma Vihari shared an 82-run partnership to overcome the struggling team. Rahane was dismissed for 81 runs, while Vihari scored 32 runs. Kemar Roach took three wickets for the West Indies. Shannon Gabriel got two wickets.

Mayank Agarwal and Lokesh Rahul got to start the innings for India. In the fifth over, Kemar Roach gave two shocks to Team India. Roach got the West Indies first success by getting Mayank Agarwal caught by Shai Hope behind the wicket. Aggarwal was dismissed after scoring 5 runs.

Cheteshwar Pujara was also caught by Shai Hope behind the wicket and returned to the pavilion. Pujara was dismissed by scoring 2 runs. Captain Virat Kohli was also out in the eighth over. Kohli was caught by Shannon Gabriel and returned to the pavilion. Kohli was out after scoring 9 runs. KL Rahul (44) missed his half-century. He was dismissed by Roston Chase and gave India the fourth blow.

After this, Rahane and Hanuma Vihari shared an 82-run partnership to overcome the struggling team. Rahane was dismissed for 81 runs, while Vihari scored 32 runs. Kemar Roach took three wickets for the West Indies. Shannon Gabriel got two wickets.

Rohit-Ashwin did not get a chance

Earlier, West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and decided to bowl and invited India to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin have not got a chance in the playing eleven. Lokesh Rahul and Mayank Agarwal have been given a chance in the playing eleven. Both will start the innings. Riddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, and Umesh Yadav are not playing in this match. Tamarah Brooks is going to make his debut for the host West Indies. The hosts are coming down with four fast bowlers.

After a strong performance in the limited-overs format, the Indian cricket team will look to score 60 points starting with a win at the ICC World Test Championship.

The top nine teams are participating in the World Test Championship, which includes Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies apart from India. Each series will have 120 points. There will be 60 points of a match in a two-match series and 40 points of a match in a three-match series. The tie will yield half points, while the draw will be divided in the ratio of 3: 1.

Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will play international cricket after seven months. He recently performed brilliantly against West Indies-A and captain Virat Kohli will hope that these two batsmen continue their strong performance in the first Test match as well.

The Indian team is currently the No. 1 team in the world rankings and would like to strengthen its position at the top position. After suffering a crushing defeat in ODIs and T20 series, the morale of the host team is low. Experience is also in favor of the Indian team.

Captain Virat Kohli is running in excellent form. In the ODI series, he scored two consecutive centuries, if he scores another century in a Test match, then he will be equal to former Australia captain Ricky Potting in terms of scoring a century as a captain. Kohli has scored a total of 18 Test centuries as Indian captain, while Potting has 19 centuries in his name.

Before the match, Kohli said, ‘The game is going to be very competitive and it makes the Test matches you play important. The World Test Championship is the right step taken at the right time.

The Indian team looks strong in the presence of Jasprit Bumrah in the bowling. Apart from this, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Kuldeep Yadav can also play in the match. All these players took three wickets in the practice match and submitted their claim to be included in the 11 players.

Ravichandran Ashwin would also like to prove his utility on the field here. He took seven wickets at the same ground in 2016 as well as a century.

On the other hand, the West Indies team had a strong performance in the last Test series against England and the hosts would like to retain the same. However, the defeats against India in ODIs and T20s have raised many questions in front of him.

The hosts will expect a good performance from captain Jason Holder. He has taken 40 wickets along with scoring 565 runs since January 2018.

Playing XI:

India : Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jaspreet Bumrah.

West Indies: Craig Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shai Hope (wicketkeeper), Shamarah Brooks, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Jason Holder (captain), Miguel Cummins, Shannon Gabriel, Camar Roach.