Trinidad: In the second Test against the West Indies in Trinidad, India has maintained total dominance thus far. Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Ravichandran Ashwin all played outstanding half-centuries to help India's first innings tally reach 438 while Virat Kohli recorded his 29th Test century.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who returned to the Test team after some strong performances in domestic cricket, hasn't been able to match that form in the two Tests so far. He was dismissed for three runs in Dominica's opening Test. Rahane was then dismissed for eight runs in the opening innings of the second Test. Aakash Chopra, a former India opener, feels as though his "notice period is on" as a result of everything.
"Ajinkya Rahane - he is the vice-captain of this team for sure but you get the feeling that the notice period is on. It happens with some players and it seems like it is happening with him as well or will happen," Chopra said at the end of Day 1's play at his Youtube Channel.
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"He got an inside edge once earlier as well. Then he got it a second time and the ball hit the stumps. It was a session where India lost four wickets and the run-scoring was slow but in the end, India are in a commanding situation."
Watch how India Lost 4 Wickets including Rahane’s Clean Bowled:-
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Meanwhile, India cruised to a respectable first innings score of 438 on Day 2, led by the unrivaled Virat Kohli, who also marked his 500th international appearance with a 76th century.
A perfect 121 in 206 balls, his 29th in the longest format, put Kohli, who narrowly missed a century in the previous Test, on par with none other than the illustrious Sir Donald Bradman.
Along the way, he and Ravindra Jadeja (61 off 152 balls), who also reached his 19th half-century in Tests, contributed 159 runs for the fifth wicket.
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Aside from the 11 boundaries, Kohli scored 77 runs in singles, doubles, and triples during the opening session of the second day. He was scarcely challenged by any of the West Indies pacers.
Beginning the day at 87, Kohli quickly achieved his century while blasting a wide Roach delivery with a stretched square drive. The exuberant grin he wore as he raised his bat and took a bow said it all.
Given that he hadn't scored a hundred in a Test match on foreign territory since Perth in 2018, his sense of delight at striking his maiden overseas century in five years was evident.
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