India moved to the top of the ICC World Test Championship table with 120 points after beating West Indies comfortably in the second and final Test match of the series.
Concussion sub for West Indies
India vs West Indies 2nd test day 4 saw Dwayne Bravo and Shamarh Brooks began the day with the determination to bat out as long as possible. Bravo was in the middle after getting hit by a Japrit Bumrah bounder in the last over of day three. He went through the initial concussion test and was allowed to resume his batting. But five runs added to his individual overnight score and he started feeling uneasy. Soon after he decided to walk out of the field and Jermaine Blackwood joined Brooks as the concussion replacement. This was only the second time in international Test cricket that a concussion replaced has been used according to the new rule of ICC.
The chase and collapse
The target of 468 was impeccable. That even looked bigger after the dismissals of Roston Chase and Shimron Hetmyer. Chase and Hetmyer were quick to go after Bravo getting retired hurt. West Indies were suddenly crawling with just 98/4 on board. Not a lot expected resistance from the Windies batters and was expecting Indians to finish off the game at the soonest when the concussion substitute walked in. Blackwood and Brooks kept started batting with determination and kept giving hope to the dying team spirit of the hosts. They went on to add 61 runs before Blackwood was sent back by Bumrah. Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Blackwood (38) in the 9th over after lunch and that triggered a collapse.
Then Brooks was brilliantly run out by Virat Kohli who made the throw while in motion and hit the stumps directly to get him short of the crease. Shamarh Brooks’ 50 is the only individual fifty recorded for the West Indies in this Test series. Dismissals of two set batsmen called for setback and soon Jahmar Hamilton and Rahkeem Cornwall followed. From 159/5 West Indies were 180/8 in no time. Holder, the skipper tried to show some more resistance along with Kemar Roach but could not hold for long. His 39 off 35 was praiseworthy but not much effective. Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja took care of both and the Indian team won the match by 257 runs.
First-time records
With this win, Virat Kohli also became the most successful Indian test captain with 28 Test wins. Virat Kohli now has 28 wins from 48 matches. He has overtaken his predecessor MS Dhoni who had 27 wins from 60 Test matches. India has lost 10 games and drawn another 10 under Kohli whereas under Dhoni 18 loses and 15 drawn matches were registered. Sourav Ganguly is the third on the list of most successful Indian captains who led the team to 21 wins, 13 losses and 15 draws in 49 matches, followed by Mohammad Azharuddin in the fourth with 14 wins. In the overall table, the record for most wins in International cricket belongs to Graeme Smith, who has 53 wins, while Ricky Ponting has 48.
The second innings of West Indies became the first-ever innings to involve more than 11 cricketers in any International format. The scorecard for the first time showed 12 players’ name, thanks to the concussion substitute taken by West Indies in place of Bravo.
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Brief scores
India 416 & 168/4d beat West Indies 117 & 210 by 257 runs
(Ajinkya Rahane 64*, Hanuma Vihari 53*; Kemar Roach 3/28)
(Shamarh Brooks 50, Jason Holder 39; Mohammed Shami 3/65, Ravindra Jadeja 3/58)