Cheteshwar Pujara warms up with a century against West Indies

Cheteshwar Pujara

Coolidge (Antigua): Cheteshwar Pujara immediately struck form with a fine century while Rohit Sharma hit 68 as India shrugged off an initial wobble to score 297 for 5 against West Indies 'A' on the opening day of their three-day warm-up game here.

Pujara and Rohit stitched 132 runs together for the fourth wicket to take India to a strong position after being reduced to 89 for 3 at lunch on Saturday.
Test specialist Pujara got going in his first competitive match of the West Indies tour as he retired after making 100 off 187 balls in which he struck eight fours and one six.

Rohit fell after making 68 off 115 balls. He hit eight fours and one six.

After Pujara retired in the final session, Rishabh Pant and Hanuma Vihari pushed the Indian total further to reach near the 300-run mark. Stumps were drawn just after Pant was out for a 53-ball 33 which he made with the help of four boundaries and one six.

Hanuma Vihari was batting on 37 from 101 deliveries while Ravindra Jadeja was not out on one when stumps were drawn after playing 88.5 overs.

For West Indies 'A', pacer Jonathan Carter took 3 for 39 runs from his 13.5 overs while Keon Harding and Akim Frazer got one wicket each.

India, however, made a struggling start to their innings after winning the toss, with Ajinkya Rahane, who was designated as the captain for the practice game, failing again as India reached 89 for 3 at lunch. Rahane, who has been in wretched form for the last couple of years and also had a poor county stint with Hampshire, was out for one, edging seamer Jonathan Carter to 'keeper-captain Jahmar Hamilton. Rahane has now gone without a hundred in the last two years. His last three-figure knock came against a below-par Sri Lanka side in August, 2017. In the last 12 Test matches, he has crossed the half-century mark only five times in 20 innings.

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