India’s batting strength put West Indies on the mat at close on the second day of the first Test at the Motera in Ahmedabad on Friday.
KL Rahul’s 11th Test century virtually ended the West Indies’ hopes of a fightback. Then Dhruv Jurel’s maiden ton and Ravindra Jadeja’s significant hundred swelled the lead to 286 runs. This came on a day where India made 327 runs for the loss of just three wickets.
There was a point when the pitch started crumbling and the West Indies’ spinners were able to extract turn out of the rough. But the batters collectively decided to attack them, hoping to throw them off the lengths with Jadeja leading the charge.
Rahul (100 off 197 balls), Jurel (125 off 210 balls) and Jadeja (104 batting off
178 balls) had their own distinct style to Test match batting and even interesting ways of celebrations. Rahul’s was for his infant daughter, while Jurel’s gun salute was for the Indian Army, while Jadeja brought out his now familiar and famous sword celebration.
Rahul brought an end to his century drought at home by hitting his first since December 2016. He, however, couldn’t provide any valid reason for the fewer hundreds
at home.
“Not sure really,” Rahul said at the end of the day’s play. “But yeah, somehow I think the only thing that I’ve worked on in the last year or so has been maintaining my batting tempo. Just enjoying the phases that are not as exciting for me in my own head.”
Rahul said he has been working hard on running the singles and twos while playing at home as the conditions often demand that, something he was not able to do in the past, thus affecting his conversion rate.
“Obviously when you travel abroad and play seaming swinging conditions with extra bounce, there’s a lot of challenge doing that. And when you come back home, when there’s three spinners playing and the field’s spread out, you really need to get your runs with singles. The boundaries don’t come that easily.
“So yeah, that’s something that I’ve worked on and needed to make that mental switch to enjoy doing that, enjoy grinding and getting 100s with singles and twos as well. So that’s something that I’ve worked on in the last year or so.
“And yeah, I think that’s the only difference that I can see and probably that’s what I wasn’t doing that well previously when I played at home,” Rahul said.
Fifth-wicket stand
One Rahul departed, Jurel and Jadeja put on 206 runs for an imposing fifth-wicket stand. The partnership ended when Jurel, who smacked 15 fours and three sixes, got an inside edge off Khary Pierre to be caught behind for the West Indies debutant’s maiden Test wicket.
Jurel’s batting has already led to talk on whether he is suited for the No. 3 slot. He has shown good judgement of what to play and what to leave during his innings. He’s comfortable both in attack and defence and his temperament could provide India with a good option at that position.