Roseau (Dominica): Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made the best possible comeback after being left out for the World Test Championship (WTC) final as his 33rd five-wicket haul put India in command against West Indies on the first day of the opening Test here on Wednesday.
36-year-old Chennai-born Ashwin, who is the number one ICC Test bowler, justified his top billing as he ended with figures of 5/60 in 24.3 overs to decimate the hosts for a meagre 150 in 64.3 overs. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/26 in 14 overs) beautifully complemented Ashwin, as the duo, made life miserable for the Windies batters.
Then skipper Rohit Sharma (30 batting, 65 balls) and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 batting, 73 balls) added unbeaten 80 runs for the first-wicket stand, even as India still trail by 70 runs. The two Mumbaikars, Rohit and Jaiswal, looked comfortable as there is not much help for the bowlers with Indian captain hitting his customary 'Nataraja' pull-shot and soothing straight drive. Jaiswal played close to his body for better part of evening.
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However, the opening day belonged to Ashwin, whose artistry was too much to handle for an under-cooked batting line-up. Making optimum use of the slow two-paced track that also offered turn and bounce, Ashwin became third Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (956 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (711) to complete 700 scalps across formats in international cricket. He also achieved the rare feat of being first Indian bowler to dismiss father and son when he got rid of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Ashwin had got the wicket of the senior Chandrapaul on his Test debut in 2011.
Barring debutant left-hander Alick Athanaze (47 off 99 balls), who batted responsibly till his dismissal, none of the Caribbean batters had the technique to survive on a slow turner. Pacer Mohammed Siraj (12-2-25-1) deserved a lot of credit as he bowled a beautiful fuller length during first session, changed his tactic to use a lot more bouncers post-lunch to hurry the batters on a slow track. One such delivery accounted for Jason Holder, who took the bait and was holed out at square leg boundary for the fielder stationed for that mistimed pull-shot.
On the field too, Siraj was also brilliant as his diving catch at mid-off to dismiss Jermaine Blackwood off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling was a superb effort. The West Indies skipper's decision to bat first backfired as most of the home team batters lacked requisite patience. Shardul Thakur (7-3-15-1), operating as the third seamer in overseas conditions for the first time, continued with his happy knack of picking wickets while Jaydev Unadkat (7-2-17-0) also played his part to perfection.
West Indies openers Chanderpaul (12, 44 balls) and skipper Kraigg Brathwaite (20 off 46 balls) went into a shell during the first hour as both Siraj and Unadkat beating the outside edge of both batters on multiple occasions. The pressure created by the pace duo did reap dividends as Ashwin slowed the pace of his deliveries, used the available drift to a good advantage to make life uncomfortable for the duo. Sensing Tagenarine's 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.
Brathwaite 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 easiest skiers for skipper Rohit Sharma 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 Thakur, who is a notch slower came into the attack, Reifer wanted to come on front-foot and get his cover drive going. Thakur quickly slipped one across the stumps and the thick outside edge was snapped by debutant Ishant Kishan behind the stumps.
In the post lunch session, Athanaze, who looked most comfortable against Ashwin, did hit some lusty blows but was done in by slowness of the track as he couldn't time a short ball and the skier was gobbled up by Thakur. (With agency inputs)
