The first session of the first Test between India and the West Indies at Dominica belonged to the visitors. Ravichandran Ashwin removed both hosts’ openers with his sheer artistry as the West Indies crept to 68 for 4 at lunchtime against India on the opening day of the first Test, here on Wednesday. Shardul Thakur (1/7 in 3 overs), operating for the first time as the third seaman in overseas conditions, continued his fortunate talent of picking wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja (1/6 in 2 overs) also found his name in wickets column for a magnificent catch by Mohammed Siraj to send off Jermaine Blackwood (14).
West Indies openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul (12, 44 balls) and Kraigg Brathwaite (20 from 46 balls) opted to bat first and went into a shell during the first hour when both Siraj (0/17 in 8 overs) and Jaydev Unadkat (0/7 in 5 overs) got to a nice fuller test match length, beating the outside edge of both openers on multiple occasions.
The pressure created by the pace duo paid off as Ashwin (2/25 in 10 overs) slowed the pace of his deliveries and used the available drift to good advantage to make life uncomfortable for the two openers .
There was a nice loop and he challenged both the inside and outside rims during the second hour.
Tagenarine’s stance and trigger shuffle from leg to off-stump bears an uncanny resemblance to his illustrious father Shivnarine, though he is slightly more sideways compared to his ‘Old Man’.
Ashwin felt his shuffle, dropped one in the air and floated to the southpaw, who played inside the line only to find it beat his perimeter after throwing and there was a deadly rattle. His wicket made Ashwin the first bowler to scalp a father-son duo. Ashwin had previously sacked Shivnarine’s father during a test match in Delhi.
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West Indies skipper Brathwaite, easily the best Test batsman in the side for the past five years, grew increasingly frustrated as Ashwin sometimes bent a little faster towards him.
He did try to get out of trouble with a slog-swept boundary, but the shrewd operator shot one over the line, leaving Brathwaite to go for a mindless bottom-handed slog halfway through. However, the mistimed slog only became the easiest skiers for skipper Rohit Sharma stationed in cover.
Left-hander Raymon Reifer (2 off 18 balls) never seemed to be in control as Siraj softened him with some short balls.
So when Shardul, who is a lot slower, came on the attack, he wanted to get to the front and start his cover drive. Shardul quickly slid one over the stumps and the thick outer rim was broken off by a diving Ishant Kishan behind the stumps.
With PTI inputs
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