Rohit’s ‘Ben Stokes’ moment

Apart from his free-flowing batting style, Rohit Sharma is known for his unrestrained style of talking, amusingly unpolished at times and, in informal settings, often garnished with questionable utterances.

Batting against Alzarri Joseph on the first evening, Rohit was caught by surprise when a searing yorker came his way: he managed to inside-edge it onto his boot, and started hopping right away, pinged by the impact of the eight-over-old ball. Out came the Hindi curse word which sounds like “Ben Stokes”, a verbal representation of his pain. The England captain must have rolled in his sleep somewhere in Manchester.

Yashasvi does a ‘Ben Stokes’ too

On debut and just 21, Yashasvi seems to be quickly picking things up from his captain, and we’re not just talking batting tips. In another video doing the rounds, Yashasvi’s heard yelling: “Hat na B******* saamne se” (Move from the front, no), possibly suggesting that a West Indies player had blocked his way. Kohli gestured if it was Kemar Roach, the bowler, with Yashasvi replying in the affirmative with “Haan, saamne hi khada ho gaya” (Yes, he’s standing in front of me). Not much else came in the way of his unbeaten debut ton.

The plumb lbw that couldn’t be reviewed

It’s been hard toil for the home side: given how debutant Yashasvi has batted, they’d be feeling the pinch even more. Having grafted for the most part of the day, Yashasvi was on 133 off 325 balls, when a Kemar Roach delivery skid through the dead surface and pinned him in front of the stumps. Roach went up in a huge appeal, but slumped as soon as he realised there were no reviews to take. West Indies had only themselves to blame really, having extinguished all three reviews until that point, including two against new-man Virat Kohli, just four balls apart.

Kohli’s boundary celebration

On a pitch with turn and soft bounce, Kohli came in to bat after spending 78 overs in the dugout, most of which involved watching the opening pair go along at their own pace. When the chance came, Kohli wasn’t his usual self, disarmingly blocking his way through the first 80 deliveries.

Off the 81st, Kohli was offered a juicy half-volley from Jomel Warrican, and proceeded to cart it through covers for four, his first boundary the entire day. Out came a broad smile and a fist wave as a relieved gesture towards the dressing room. In the era of Bazball, batters celebrating boundaries is as rare as it can get.

Is Brathwaite’s “bhatta” problem back?

West Indies had to run deep into their bowling resources to compensate for the unwell Rahkeem Cornwall’s forced absence. It included Kraigg Brathwaite bringing himself onto the attack, one of nine bowlers used by the West Indies in all. Brathwaite bowled six overs in all, but not everyone was happy with him turning his arm over: Kohli, for one, was heard saying: “bhatta phenk raha hai” (he’s throwing).

Brathwaite has had a long history issues with his bowling action. He was reported for a suspect action in 2017, and again in 2019, during India’s last Test visit. However, he was cleared to resume bowling by the ICC.