NEW DELHI: India's star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin displayed his skill and removed both West Indies openers with his exceptional bowling on the opening day of the first Test in Roseau, Dominica on Wednesday. At lunch, West Indies crawled to 68 for 4.
Shardul Thakur, playing as the third seamer in overseas conditions for the first time, continued his knack for taking wickets and picked up one, while Ravindra Jadeja also contributed with a wicket thanks to a fantastic catch by Mohammed Siraj to dismiss Jermaine Blackwood.
Debutant Alick Athanaze was unbeaten at 13 at the lunch break. During the session, West Indies managed only six fours in the 28 overs bowled.
Opting to bat first, West Indies openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite struggled to score runs in the first hour. Indian bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jaydev Unadkat settled into a nice fuller length, consistently beating the outside edge of the openers.
The pressure built by the pace duo paid off when Ashwin, making use of drift and variations in pace, troubled the openers. Ashwin picked up two wickets, challenging both the inside and outside edges of the batsmen.
Overall, India had a strong first session, with their bowlers creating opportunities and putting the West Indies batters under pressure.
Tagenarine's stance and trigger shuffle from leg to off-stump does have an uncanny resemblance with his illustrious father Shivnarine although he is slightly more side-on compared to his 'Old Man'.
Sensing his shuffle, Ashwin got one to hang in the air and drift into the southpaw, who played inside the line only to find it beat his outside edge after pitching and there was a death rattle.
West Indies skipper Brathwaite, easily the best Test batter in the side over the last five years, was increasingly getting frustrated as Ashwin bowled slightly quicker at times to him.
He did try to hit out of trouble with a slog swept boundary but the canny operator fired one across the line, inducing Brathwaite to go for a mindless bottom-handed slog over mid-on. However the mistimed slog only became an easy skier for skipper Rohit Sharma stationed at cover.
Left-handed Raymon Reifer (2 off 18 balls) never looked in control as Siraj softened him up with some short balls.
So when Shardul, who is a notch slower came into the attack, he wanted to come on front-foot and get his cover drive going. Shardul quickly slipped one across the stumps and the thick outside edge was snapped by a diving Ishant Kishan behind the stumps.
(With PTI inputs)
