Ignored for the World Test Championship (WTC) final last month, Ravichandran Ashwin returned to the side with a bang, with his 33rd five-wicket haul as India dominated Day 1 of the first Test against West Indies in Dominica.
Ashwin was well-assisted by Ravindra Jadeja who took three wickets as West Indies were bowled out for a low score of 150 after opting to bat first. India were 80/0 at the stumps with debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring 40 not out.
Ashwin’s magic stuns West Indies
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India captain Rohit Sharma was spot on with his prediction that the pitch would assist spinners and decided to play two spinners.
One wonders what would have been the case if the pitch was not spin friendly. Maybe Ashwin had to sit out. As he did in the WTC final. Or the last time India toured West Indies in 2019.
It’s possible given how dispensable Ashwin is regarded in the Indian team despite truckloads of wickets. The argument that he isn’t a good bowler outside of India has also been won over by his bowling in Australia in the 2020-21 series when he took 12 wickets in three Tests (fourth-highest in the series) and got better of Steve Smith on multiple occasions.
Still, whenever it comes to dropping a spinner outside India, it’s always the Chennai lad.
On Wednesday, as India decided to play two spinners, Ashwin had little to worry about his selection and more time to think about his execution.
It was in fact the execution and class of Ashwin that opened the account for India at Dominica.
31 on the board. Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite had made a decent start for the hosts and before it could become threatening, Ashwin decided to go around the wicket, bowled wide of the crease, and then got the ball to turn just enough to hit the timber and send back Chanderpaul.
It was a delivery that certainly would have been a dinner discussion between Tagenarine and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
It was also the delivery that made Ashwin the first Indian to dismiss a father-son pair in Test cricket.
That one dismissal opened the floodgates!
West Indies batters disappoint
More than anything else, it’s the temperament that has hurt the West Indies batters recently. And the same became an issue on Day 1. Despite a decent start, it didn’t take long for West Indies to go from 31/1 to 76/5.
Poor and weak shot selections led to the collapse.
West Indies would have expected more from captain Brathwaite but he got out when a leading edge was caught at covers. Brathwaite was guilty of losing patience and trying to clear the long-on fence.
Raymond Reifer was caught behind and Jermaine Blackwood had to go back after another lofted shot resulted in a brilliant catch by Mohammed Siraj at mid-off.
These are the players who only play Test cricket. Yet in their own format, they fell like a house of cards.
Alick Athanaze, the debutant, was the only one to offer some resistance as he scored 47 off 99 but soon became Ashwin’s next scalp.
Eventually, Rahkeem Cornwall’s 19 not out from the lower order helped West Indies reach 150.
Before Athanaze’s wicket, Ashwin had dismissed Alzzari Joseph which took the veteran to 700 international wickets. He is the third Indian after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to achieve the feat.
Yashasvi Jaiswal enters Test cricket
It has been quite a journey for Jaiswal; from selling street food to sleeping in tents to doing well in the domestic circuit, at the U19 level and in IPL. On Wednesday he had his dream come true as he was handed the India cap.
It took him some time to get going, in fact, 16 balls to be precise. There was also a leading ahead in between this which fell short but when Alzarri Joseph pitched short and wide in the sixth over of India’s innings, Jaiswal’s eyes lit up as he played a cracking slap shot over backward point for a four and to get off the mark in international cricket.
From thereon, it was his show as captain Rohit took a backseat. The day ended with Yashasvi smashing 40 not out off 73 balls including six fours. Rohit was on 30 off 65.
India still trail by 70 runs but have 10 wickets in hand.
On Day 2, the focus would be on batting for long, piling up runs and trying to finish the game with West Indies’s second innings.
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