Ankit Bawne made a strong case for selection as he warmed up with a ton, while Mayank Agarwal narrowly missed out on one as the two-day warm-up match at the Reliance Cricket Stadium at Vadodara got underway.
The West Indies Senior Men’s Team officially opened their lengthy tour of India against the BCCI’s XI, who won the toss and elected to bat first in a 90-over-per-day contest.
Prithvi Shaw (08) and Agarwal opened the batting for the BCCI XI, as Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite handed the new ball to pacer Shannon Gabriel, who hit his straps with returns of 2-41. Shaw was the first to go, caught by Guyanese batting sensation Shimron Hetmyer off Gabriel.
Test batsman Hanuma Vihari fell for 13, to give debutant seamer Shermon Lewis his first wicket and leave the score 40-2. Agarwal and Captain Karun Nair then combined for a 92-run partnership, with Agarwal being the aggressor of the pair.
Windies pacer Shannon Gabriel snared two wickets on a gruelling opening day against the BCCI President’s XI
Sadly, he fell ten runs short of a century when leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo had him caught by Hetmyer for 90.
Nair punched his way to 29, with 5 fours, before Gabriel’s return spell had him caught by Bishoo. The partnership of 113 runs between Shreyas Iyer and the centurion Bawne then broke the Windies bowlers. Bawne stroked 15 fours as he ended on 116, while Iyer struck a solid 60 in their resurgent counterattack.
The BCCI XI ended their 90 overs on 360/6, with Samit Patel being the last man out for 15, caught in the deep by Shane Dowrich off Bishoo. The Windies bowlers toiled hard in the field in very humid Gujarati conditions.
Bishoo was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with figures of 3-104 from 21 overs, while support came from Gabriel and Lewis who commenced his international career with figures of 1-13 from 10 overs.
At the close of play, Brathwaite said, “I think it was a good first day for the team’s first game here in India. It was quite hot, but I thought the guys stuck it out quite well. The ball wasn’t spinning as much as we anticipated, so getting six wickets was a good effort from us.
“We probably could’ve contained a bit more runs from the spinners, but I think it was a decent day. We have to make sure that we stick to our plan when we chase the 360-run total tomorrow, because the wicket still looks decent for us to bat on.”
The match continues today with the WINDIES chasing 361 from 90 overs for victory. (Clifton Ross)
