India look to seal series against Windies in second Jamaica Test
Ravindra Jadeja played the crucial role with his all-round performance in the first Test . File / Agence France-Presse
India clinched a 318-run win -- their largest overseas victory in terms of run -- in the first Test in Antigua and began their World Test Championship campaign in style.
The visitors seem to have all their bases covered, having arguably the most well-rounded attack in world cricket at the moment.
All the three seamers -- Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami -- were among the wickets in Antigua which has been the case now for quite some time.
Also, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja played the role of supporting spinner superbly. Besides picking up wickets, he also contributed with crucial runs in the first innings and showed why he is such an integral member of the team in all the three formats of the game.
However, what would have pleased skipper Virat Kohli most was the return to form of his deputy Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 183 runs in the game, and middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari who played a grinding second-inning knock of 93.
For West Indies, it was another batting collapse which saw them getting bundled out for a paltry 100 in the second innings.
The batting, which has been a problem for the Caribbean team in all the three formats, has undone a lot of the good work put in by a resurgent pace unit and has been responsible for some inexplicable defeats.
And if the Jason Holder-led side are to bounce back and level the series, the mantra is simple: Their batsmen need to come to the party, score runs and put the Indian batters under pressure.
Kohli on verge of becoming India’s most successful Test captain
Meanwhile, Kohli is just a step away from becoming the nation’s most successful leader in the longest format of the game. If India manage to win the second and final Test, Indian skipper, who had equalled former India captain MS Dhoni’s record of 27 Test wins in the first game of the series, will add another feather to his cap.
A win in the second Test, will take Kohli’s number of Test victories as captain to 28 - the most by any Indian captain.
Dhoni had a win percentage of 45 as captain, after winning 27 matches, losing 18 and drawing 15. On the other hand, Kohli’s win percentage is 55.31 -- the best among all other Indian captains in the format.
In the 47 Tests under Kohli, India have registered 27 wins, lost 10 games and drawn another 10.
The run-machine had also surpassed Sourav Ganguly with the most Test wins in overseas matches for India as captain in the first Test of the series.
Kohli now has 12 away wins as captain in 26 matches, while Ganguly had 11 wins in 28 games.
After Dhoni retired from the longest format of the game during the tour of Australia in 2014, Kohli took over. In 2018, Kohli led India to their first ever series win in Australia as his team defeated the hosts 3-1 to seal a historic win in the Border-Gavaskar series Down Under.
Speaking at press conference, Kohli, however, had not spoke much on his achievement and credited the team for the success they have achieved in the longest format in recent times.
Right-arm pacer Ishant, who played a pivotal role in India’s emphatic victory in the first Test against West Indies, will aim to add yet another feather on his cap when he comes out to bowl in the second game beginning Friday at the Sabina Park.
Indo-Asian News Service
