Twitter Reactions: Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari notch up fifties as India surprisingly bats for the second time

In the second Test against the West Indies, Team India is clearly in the driver’s seat. Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari were brilliant yet again and did a great job with the bat. Even though the bowlers were tested slightly on this day, West Indies is still miles away from a victory. With still two days left, India will be fancying an easy victory.

The hosts started Day 3 with an overnight score of 87/7. Jasprit Bumrah ripped them apart on Day-2. However, they added some important runs to their tally early on Day 3. Rahkeem Cornwall scored 14 while Kemar Roach mustered 17. Thus, the Caribbean team managed to push the first innings total to 117 before they were bowled out. While everyone expected India to enforce a follow-on, Virat Kohli chose otherwise and decided to bat again in the Test match.

In the second innings, both the openers failed and were dismissed by Kemar Roach. While Mayank Agarwal got out for 4, KL Rahul scored 6 runs. Soon, Virat Kohli was also dismissed by the same bowler for a golden duck. He forced the Indian skipper to play at a delivery that straightened at the last moment. Thus, it found his outside edge and the keeper took an easy catch. Cheteshwar Pujara looked to be in decent touch but a delivery with an awkward bounce got the better of him after he scored 27 runs.

India was down to 57/4. But Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari came to the rescue with quickfire half-centuries. Both of them added together with an unbeaten 111-run partnership. While the vice-captain scored 64, the youngster piled on 53 runs before Inda declared at 168/4.

West Indies batsmen do a decent job in the final phase of play

To chase an improbable target of 468 runs, the West Indies batsmen came out to bat towards the end of the day. However, Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t run through their batting order this time. It was Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami who provided the breakthroughs dismissing both the openers. In 13 overs, West Indies’ scoreboard read 45/2 with them still requiring to score another 423 runs to win the match.

Twitterati expressed surprise that Virat Kohli didn’t opt to enforce a follow-on. They enjoyed the batting display of Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari. Also, the fans expressed surprise about Kohli getting out for a golden duck.

Here is how Twitterati reacted: