Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
India are on course for a significant first-innings lead after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 5-60 to bundle out West Indies for only 150 runs on the opening day of the first test at Windsor Park in Roseau.
After India’s spinners made excellent use of a slow pitch to put the visitors in control, their new opening partnership of skipper Rohit Sharma and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal then raised 80 runs without being separated.
Left-hander Jaiswal was batting on 40 at stumps with Rohit on 30 at the other end.
Summing up India’s day, Ashwin, who registered his 33rd five-wicket haul in test cricket, said: “Pretty good performance.”
“There was moisture in the pitch in the first session. It got slow and started to spin a bit more,” he added.
West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was left to rue his decision to bat first after winning the toss in the opener of the two-match series.
After recognising the slowness of the track, Rohit introduced Ashwin in the ninth over and the off-spinner struck in his third over when he spun on past Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s (12) bat to hit the top of the off-stump.
It also made Ashwin, who has claimed the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul four times, the fifth bowler to dismiss a father-son pair in test cricket.
Brathwaite made 20 before falling to Ashwin and West Indies lost the top half of their batting order to reach 76.
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