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Four wickets down, 302 on the board. An excellent first day for a batting side, by almost any measure. Almost. Indias number six was R Ashwin, a man who has played 32 Test matches, a man with undoubted batting talent, but also a man who had never batted anywhere in the top six before, and had batted at seven only twice. On Thursday, Ashwin walked in at 236 for 4, a far less secure situation than 302 for 4.At the other end was Virat Kohli, batting on 99.Kohli had just watched Ajinkya Rahane fall against the run of play to a long hop. Not too long before that, in the final over before tea, he had watched Shikhar Dhawan, who had curbed his instincts for four hours to score 84, fall to a high-risk shot: a sweep played to a ball pitched on middle stump, by a legspinner. Deliveries from legspinners pitching on middle stump often straighten to hit middle stump, or, as in Dhawans case, the front pad. And just after lunch, Kohli had walked into the middle after Cheteshwar Pujara had got himself out to another long hop.Three wickets carelessly given away, three wickets given away against the run of play, two of them close to breaks in play.On the eve of the match, Kohli had spoken about the need to guard against that sort of thing.We have discussed this quite a lot, since the [2014-15] tour of Australia. We have felt the breaks - lunch break, tea break, drinks break - we tend to lose a lot of wickets around this time. Its a matter of experience. We were losing our concentration, and not realising how important those moments are in a Test match.He had also spoken about India identifying the need to attack the opposition in the first Test of a series, and to play their best possible bowling combination in order to do so. He had backed his words in the most comprehensive way possible. Kohlis India had played five bowlers before, but one of them was usually an allrounder such as Stuart Binny or Ravindra Jadeja. Now neither was in the side, and the five bowlers were five bowlers.This was why Ashwin was batting at No. 6. And he came in as early as he did because of three soft dismissals, two of them close to breaks, two of them watched from 22 yards away by the very person who had spoken of the need to avoid such lapses.They had committed those lapses against a team that had seemed set for two days on the field, a team with one genuine fast bowler, one genuine spinner, and two 128 kph workhorses who were in the side in large part for their batting ability. It was a bowling attack of a team that seemed bent on drawing the Test before a ball had been bowled. Given the resources available to them - the one other fast bowler in their squad, Miguel Cummins, was yet to make his Test debut - it may even have been a prudent selection.Shannon Gabriel, the one genuine fast bowler in the West Indies XI, had begun the day by removing one of Indias openers in a nasty spell of short-pitched bowling. But that spell had only lasted four overs, and his next spell, close to lunch, only three. Every time he went out of the attack, the threat to Indias batsmen dwindled visibly. And so, when the third-wicket partnership between Dhawan and Kohli passed the 100 mark, West Indies almost seemed resigned to conceding 500. And yet, somehow, India slipped to 236 for 4.For once, it was hard to read displeasure in Kohlis body language. He probably felt it. But all he could do was carry on batting. Just as he had done till then.When Kohli came to the crease, India were 74 for 2 in 27.4 overs. They were going at less than three runs an over. Carlos Brathwaite, bowling wide of off stump and testing Indias patience, had figures of 6-2-6-0, because Dhawan and Pujara had been as patient as the tactic demanded, with an early wicket down and the ball still new.The first time Brathwaite bowled that line to Kohli, he took a long stride out, reached for the ball, and drove him into the covers for three. He was batting on 26, but he had done the same thing against Jason Holder, West Indies other run-drying workhorse, when he had been batting on 0.This need to feel bat on ball has been Kohlis weakness in conditions where the ball moves around, but here, with the sun out, the ball shorn of its shine, and against friendly medium-paced bowling, he probably reckoned it was a risk worth taking.It proved to be so, and the reward was a strike rate that rattled along in the 70s. Twice - once off Gabriel when on 19, and then off Brathwaite when on 37 - he reached out and sliced the ball dangerously wide of gully. But those were the only false steps in an innings where he achieved a 94% control rate.It was an approach that probably only Kohli among Indias batsmen could have taken, for he has consistently shown across formats an ability to make risky shots look mundane during his ongoing, and seemingly endless, run of form. Take this shot he played against Devendra Bishoo when on 83. A well-flighted delivery, landing on a length that forced Kohli into a big front-foot stretch. It pitched on off stump, and Kohli flicked it between midwicket and mid-on. It wasnt the rubbery bottom-handed Kohli whip we are accustomed to seeing. This was a daintier creation, a last-second improvisation born of that long, smooth stride that brought his head on top of the ball, and the recognition - possibly off the pitch rather than out of the hand - that this was a googly.Strokes of this kind peppered Kohlis innings. The loose balls disappeared as you might expect, and reasonably good ones went into gaps as well, manipulated by neat footwork and a pair of hands and wrists that is perhaps the best in the cricketing world today. Twenty-eight of his 143 runs came in twos and threes.On a pitch that seemed to flatten out as the day went on, against a bowling attack with only one real threat, there were moments when batting almost seemed too easy for Kohli. But, as his team-mates showed, snares lay waiting for that one mistake, that one moment of carelessness. This, after all, was still Test cricket. Nike NBA Jerseys Outlet . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Wholesale Nike NBA Jerseys For Sale . LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St. http://www.cheapchinajerseysnba.com/ . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. Discount Nike NBA Jerseys . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Cheap Nike NBA Jerseys Authentic . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said.BOSTON, Massachusetts - There are times over the course of a season when a team needs its ace starter to be a stopper. For the Blue Jays the time was Wednesday and the ace was R.A. Dickey. He stepped up. "I feel some responsibility as a stopper from time to time," said Dickey. "I feel like thats why one of the reasons Alex pursued me and wanted to make the trade because he felt like I could be a guy that could help stop streaks when they werent going in our favour. Its not necessarily extra pressure but you do feel a real responsibility to be your best." Consider the situation: Following a franchise record-tying 11-game win streak the Blue Jays traveled to Tropicana Field, where the worst always seems to happen, and promptly lost the first two games of a three-game set against the division rival Rays. In stepped Dickey for an unusually early 12:10 afternoon start. 93 pitches and only two ground ball singles later, the Jays had won 3-0 and avoided the possibility of a lengthy losing skid. "Thats his job," said veteran Mark DeRosa. "Thats his job. Hes a number one, you know. We fully expected him to go out, maybe not throw a two-hit potential no-hitter the way he was rolling, but I have all the confidence in R.A. He knows, he knows, anybody who reads his post-game comments, this guy is thinking 10 days in advance. He knows what it takes and hes been there before and won a Cy Young." The Jays have won 12 of 15 despite Thursday nights 7-4 loss to the Red Sox. While the club, for the most part, has received excellent starting pitching during the stretch, a clearly defined staff ace has yet to emerge. Dickey is hesitant to discuss Wednesdays outing as a turning point in his season but his personal catcher, Josh Thole, who caught the knuckleballers Cy Young 2012 season with the Mets, suggested it could be. Thole struggled to catch the knuckleball in Wednesdays pregame bullpen session. It was even more difficult in-game. These are good signs. "I mean thats what I remember," said Thole. "What we saw (Wednesday,) is what I remember. Every fifth day it was a challenge to go out there, warm him up, take him into a game. Thats what I remember." "I dont usually say this but you could tell in the bullpen," said pitching coach Pete Walker. "I kind of kept it to myself but I think Pat (Hentgen) knew as well. We were watching him warm up and you could see the action on the ball." As a knuckleballer, Dickey often is left to his own devices. He can confide in Thole and bounce ideas off Walker but because theyve never thrown the pitch, there is a limit to which they can offer advice. As he does with all of his pitchers, Walker studies video of Dickeys work. He keeps a checklist with him, provided by Dickey, which details Dickeys mechanics.dddddddddddd. If Walker notices anything off kilter, even in the slightest, he provides Dickey with feedback. "There are some things he does like a traditional pitcher," said Walker. "Anytime he gets out of whack his front side will open up a little too soon, hell get underneath the ball a little too much and that ball will tend to stay up in the zone and take off on him. Like a traditional pitcher, when he stays closed long enough and gets his arm through the zone where it should be, you know out in front consistently, he gets the action that hes looking for." Dickey often travels into the clubhouse in-between innings to watch video. "So I can make an in-game adjustment," said Dickey. "But sometimes the differences are microscopic. Its the difference in an inch or two landing or an inch or two in my wrist position. I mean, thats what youre up against when you tackle becoming a knuckleball pitcher because you have to go through some things you dont have to go through as a conventional pitcher. Thats just part of the territory." Dickey spent most of the first two months pitching in pain. He had what can best be described as a strain on the right side of his upper back, pain he first felt in Kansas City in his third start of season. Being a knuckleballer coming off a Cy Young award was both a blessing and a curse. Throwing a knuckleball isnt as strenuous on the body so Dickey was able to pitch through the injury. Having been a conventional pitcher early in his career, Dickey says the pain would have sent the old him to the disabled list. On the flip side, hes struggled to live up to lofty expectations. With an overall record of 7-8, an ERA of 4.72 and 41 walks – an unusually high number based on his standard – Dickey has heard the jeers from frustrated Blue Jays fans and accepts them as a reality of the business hes chosen. He, too, has been frustrated. Now, hes focused on building off Wednesdays start and continuing the correction of the bad mechanical habits he developed because of the pain in his neck. "Sometimes its tough, especially when youre thinking about trying to throw without pain," said Dickey. "When youre trying just to throw a ball and not have pain in your back, you know, youre distracted maybe from being able to be in the moment with your mechanic." Now healthy, Dickey expects to be better in the seasons second half. Recent starts in San Francisco and, of course, Wednesday in Tampa Bay suggest hes on the right track. His next test wont be easy. Dickey is scheduled to start Mondays Canada Day matinee, at home, versus the offensively potent Detroit Tigers. ' ' '