On day two of the second test at Queen’s Park Oval, Virat Kohli delivered an uplifting performance, hitting his first overseas century since 2018 for India. The team was all out for 438 just before tea, and West Indies made its best start of the brief series.
At 86-1, West Indies showed resilience, but they lost crucial wickets as Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul kept a slow and steady pace on a good surface with a sticky outfield. Kohli’s performance was exceptional against the West Indies attack, but he eventually got himself out after reaching 121 runs off 206 balls. His partnership with Ravindra Jadeja of 159 runs was broken, and Jadeja also departed shortly after for 61 runs.
Kohli spoke about his innings, saying, “The stats and milestones are important to me if they help my team. I am satisfied with my effort, as it was difficult to bat. I had to work hard to get my runs. Look, I change my game according to the situation. I have a couple of hundreds, fifties outside India and that’s how I look at my numbers.”
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Meanwhile, India added only 65 runs in the mid-session overs, losing their last four wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin scored a valuable 56 runs before the team was all out. The West Indies bowlers, led by Roach and Warrican, showed a strong performance during the session.
In response, West Indies’ Brathwaite and Chanderpaul built a partnership of 71 runs, showing more cautiousness towards Jadeja, who proved challenging for the batters. The newcomer, McKenzie, made an early impression with some impressive shots, including a six against Ashwin and boundaries through the covers off Jadeja.
India’s performance set a total that seemed unlikely to lose the 100th test between the two teams. The match promises to be an exciting and competitive encounter, as both sides aim to assert their dominance in the ongoing series.