Kohli smashes 12th Test ton as India end day one at 302/4

Virat Kohli continued his sublime form to cruise to his 12th hundred and lead India to 302 for four on day one of the first cricket Test, here against the West Indies.
Kohli (143 batting) led from the front to lay a solid platform for his team with the other major contribution coming from opener Shikhar Dhawan (84).
The Indian captain, who also crossed the 3000-run mark in his 42nd Test, had the support of Ravichandran Ashwin (22 batting) at close of play as the two shared an unbeaten 66-run stand.
The away side had a rather quiet first session where it managed 72 for one in 27 overs before Kohli arrived at the crease and stepped up the tempo. By stumps, India had a decent run rate of 3.35 runs per over.

The pitch was flat and the West Indies bowling lacked depth to trouble the visitors who found it tough early on after Kohli opted to bat.
Starting at 65 after tea, Kohli put on 57 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (22) as the duo looked to build after losing both Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara (16) in the second session of play. Rahane was nearly dismissed cheaply, for 5 runs, as Shannon Gabriel (1-43) induced an edge that fell short of slips. But thereafter the vice-captain tightened up his game and didn't give another chance until his eventual dismissal.

In the meantime, the duo kept the run-rate flowing, bringing up the 200-mark in the 61st over. Then, five overs later, they brought up their 50-partnership, coming off only 65 balls. Kohli was looking particularly good in this period, as cover drives and on-drives started booming off his blade.

Perhaps Carlos Brathwaite (0-46) was the only bowled who troubled him a bit, but even was not able to create a straightforward wicket-taking opportunity.
Just as they were looking good, Rahane was dismissed, a loose stroke off Devendra Bishoo (3-108) lobbing up and he was caught at midwicket. It was yet another loose dismissal for India, with only Murali Vijay (7) getting out to a good delivery earlier in the morning.
Thereafter, with 22 overs remaining in the day's play, it was surprising to see Ashwin come out to bat ahead of Wriddhiman Saha.
(REOPENS DEL 12)
The Indian skipper, who is clearly past his prime but his countless fans would be hoping for another 'Dhoni' special in the games to come, considering the team plays only a few limited overs matches during this home season.

Interestingly, in the last ODI played here three years ago, Dhoni had smashed an unbeaten 139, albeit in a losing cause against Australia. He is yet to score an international hundred since then.
Last but not the least, India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli will be expected to showcase his masterclass yet again after getting out to a brilliant leg-side catch by Luke Ronchi on Thursday.
In his last international match at this ground on March 27, Kohli had famously hammered 82 off 51 balls against Australia to singlehandedly take India into the World T20 semifinals. The local crowd would certainly be hoping for an encore.

The dew at thids time of the year, will be a factor again, just like it was in Delhi and Dharamsala. With the home team having won all the tosses so far, the bowlers have done a decent job bowing first.
Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya have been effective with the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah providing a strong back-up, especially reducing Dhoni's headache in the death overs by bowling yorkers at will.
Pandya has made his presence his felt, both with bat and ball, since making his ODI debut in Dharamsala. He almost got the team over the line in the tense chase at Kotla before falling to a rather ordinary shot selection in the penultimate over of the innings.

Spinners Amit Mishra and Axar Patel have performed their role well, especially the leg-spinner who ended up with a three wicket haul in both the matches.
While India would look to reassert themselves over the opposition again, a reinvigorated New Zealand would be keen to cash in on the slight momentum they have gained with their first win of the tour.
The Kiwis made three changes in the last game but only pacer Trent Boult delivered on his return, ending with tidy figures of 2/25 in 10 overs. Anton Devcich playing in place of Jimmy Neesham did nothing to write home about while speedster Matt Henry, picked ahead of spinner Ish Sodhi, finished with figures of 1/51 in his full quota of overs.

It will be interesting to see whether New Zealand stick to picking only one specialist spinner in Mitchell Santner or they bring back Sodhi.
The bulk of the burden in the batting department will be borne by skipper Kane Williamson, who led from the front by smashing his eighth ODI hundred, also the first of the tour from a New Zealand batsman.
But the one batman that has been consistent for them is opener Tom Latham, who has carried his form of the Test series smoothly into the one-day series.
The away side would also have to ensure there is no batting collapse like it happened in Delhi. New Zealand had ended with a below-par score after losing their way from 158 for two in the 30th over to end up with 242.

They would also be hoping opener Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor return to form after a prolonged lean patch.
TEAMS:
India: MS Dhoni (captain and wk), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Jimmy Neesham, Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Anton Devcich, Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, BJ Watling.
In bowling, left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc and Josh
Hazlewood could cause trouble for India if they can extract bounce out of the track with back-up seam support from Mitchell Marsh.

Off spinner Nathan Lyon, who was dealt with very severely by Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer and Karnataka off-break bowler Krishnappa Gowtham, in the warm-up game, will be the man the visitors would depend on to do the bulk of the bowling during the day along with left arm Stephen O'Keefe. They are also crucial to the visitors' hopes.
The Test match to be held far away from the city's bustling areas has not really attracted a lot of interest among the fans, although this is the first-ever five-day game to be hosted in this city which is deemed as the cultural capital of Maharashtra.

Only 8000-odd tickets have been sold for each day and there are plans to fill up empty seats via free entry for school children.
Teams (from):
India: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.
Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.
Match commences at 09:30 hours IST.