AUGUST 31, 2019
Brief Scorecard – Tea Time: India 416 all out (Vihari 111, Kohli 76, Ishant 57, Holder 5-77, Cornwall 3-105) v West Indies
Hanuma Vihari jumps to celebrate his maiden Test century – AFP / Getty Images
Hanuma Vihari’s first Test hundred and Ishant Sharma’s maiden Test fifty helped India finish on 416, with an early tea taken on the second day of the second Test. Vihari’s dismissal on 111 brought an end to India’s innings, one that lasted 140.1 overs.
The Vihari-Ishant partnership yielded 112 runs for the eight wicket, and dominated a majority of the post-lunch session, frustrating West Indies after they had had a reasonably successful morning with India going to lunch on 336 for 7.
Vihari battled through a difficult period after lunch, scoring two runs in the session’s first nine overs but found his strokes even as Ishant settled in. He drove Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach, offering the straight bat to collect a few boundaries.
Vihari reached his hundred by taking a sharp single halfway through the session, and Ishant reaches his fifty two overs later. Ishant grew in confidence as the innings progressed, offering free flowing drives to the pacers and to debutant offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall.
The duo did have their nervous moments, particularly with their running between the wickets, but West Indies couldn’t hit the stumps direct and both batsmen continued to prosper. They even took India past 400, a total that might have seemed difficult to achieve when Rishabh Pant had fallen to the first ball of the day.
At 414, Ishant holed out to part-timer Kraigg Brathwaite and thereafter India’s innings came to a swift close.
Mohammad Shami lasted two balls while Vihari fell on 111, out to Jason Holder while trying to loft a shot over mid-off. It was Holder’s fifth wicket of the innings and he completed 100 Test scalps.
Earlier, after Holder had sent back Pant, Vihari combined with Ravindra Jadeja for a patient 38-run partnership. When the latter’s wicket fell, India had just crossed 300. But Ishant’s highest Test score, together with Vihari’s maiden ton, took India to an imposing first-innings total.
Courtesy/Source: ESPNCricinfo
