India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma play proper cricketing shots - Ravindra Jadeja
Skipper Virat Kohli put on 246 runs in 30 overs for the second wicket with deputy Rohit Sharma as they took the game away from West Indies.
Different players read surfaces differently. India skipper Virat Kohli had said before the start of the game that the wicket will remain the same throughout the game, justifying his decision to field first. His all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja later said he was clueless about how it’d behave in the second innings.
Kohli was right. It remained a batsman’s paradise all through and if wickets such as this are provided over the next four matches, a score of close to 400 only will suffice for Windies. Jadeja said that it is difficult to dismiss the likes of Kohli and Rohit as they play proper cricketing shots.
“They play proper cricketing shots. They don’t take any chances. They play down the ground mostly. They were just playing according the situation,” said the left-arm spinner.
Jadeja himself went for 66 runs in 10 overs, taking two wickets. Commenting on his own performance, Jadeja said: “The wicket was also very good to bat on. There was no spin or swing. The ball was coming onto the bat nicely. I was trying to bowl on the stumps, trying to restrict them by bowling in good areas and not give them width.”
Jadeja managed to get rid of one of the recent finds of West Indies, Shimron Hetmyer. Windies skipper Holder, who is missing quite a few of his top stars, was effusive in praise of the batsman who ensured they bat for 50 overs.
“I think it was outstanding. It was good to see him back to his form. Obviously he had a lean patch in the Test series. Some pretty innocuous dismissals. So to see them get a score on the board was good. He has been doing pretty well in the limited-overs format for us. Probably a bit unfortunate for him to get out at the time that he got out. He could have gone a bit deeper, probably taken us a bit further into the innings. But still credit to the young player to get his third ton.”
Holder admitted that the team was 30 or 40 runs short. “We were probably 30-40 runs short,” he said before adding that with this score they needed to take wickets early. “You got to get them (Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) out. That’s the only way to stop the flow of runs. As you know they are two quality players. The only way to stop them is to get them out.”
