Debutant Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwar Pujara dominated the first session of the first Test against West Indies in Rajkot with some mighty knocks to pile up 133 runs on the board at a loss of 1 wicket. Shaw slammed his maiden Test century and remained unbeaten at 75 while Pujara was batting at 56 after getting his 19th half-century in whites.
Earlier today, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a big day for young Prithvi Shaw as he became the 293rd Test player for India. He took the strike and scored his maiden runs on the very first ball.
Unfortunately, Rahul, who smashed a century in his last Test innings against England, failed to even open his account and got out on a duck. India had an early loss while Shanon Gabriel got the first breakthrough.
Well, that wicket of Rahul turned out to be the only success for the guests as Prithvi Shaw showed no mercy on the bowlers thereafter and so did Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined the debutant opener at number 3.
The duo stitched a 133 run partnership before the umpires called the lunch break.
Shaw became the 27th Indian batsman to score a half-century on a debut. He also became the 4th fastest Indian batsman to slam a fifty on debut after Yuvraj of Patiala (42), Hardik Pandya (48) and Shikhar Dhawan (50). Shaw brought up his fifty in 56 balls.
In addition, Pujara was back in his form and slammed a decent fifty off 67 deliveries.
Brief Scores:
India 1st Innings: 133/1 in 25 overs (Prithvi Shaw 75 batting, Cheteshwar Pujara 56 batting).