Virat Kohli & Co sail to innings and 272-run victory over West Indies inside three days to draw first blood in Test series
Wicket keeper Rishabh Pant and slip fielder Ajinkya Rahane watch teammate Prithvi Shaw (right) take a catch to dismiss West Indies batsman Keiran Powell in Rajkot on Saturday. Pic/AFP
India took 149.5 overs to score a mammoth 649-9 declared while the West Indies were bowled out under 100 overs in both innings. That was the tale of the first Test here at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium as India won by an innings and 272 runs to register their biggest victory margin ever in Test cricket.
Talk of how soon the West Indies would fold up here in the build-up to the two-Test series was justified as the visitors, ranked World No. 8, showed no stomach for a fight against World No. 1 India.
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Resuming on 94-6, 14 West Indies wickets fell on Saturday when the match concluded after the tea interval. The Indian spin trio of R Ashwin [seven wickets in the match], Ravindra Jadeja [four] and Kuldeep Yadav [six which included his maiden five-wicket haul in the second innings] shared 16 wickets amongst them in the Test to bowl out West Indies for 181 and 196 (following on).
Nothing great could have been expected from the West Indies, who in their last seven innings in India have scored over 200 runs only once. They were like sitting ducks!
There's no doubt that T20 cricket is quite popular among Caribbean cricketers, but bringing that carefree flavour into Test cricket only brought about a mismatch. Only six Windies batsmen were out while playing a defensive shot.
Stand-in skipper Kraigg Brathwaite put his team's poor batting performance down to a lack of defensive technique. "What we need to do is along with the attacking shots, trust our defence. I think that's the key. Obviously, when the field goes back, it's a matter of staying positive in defence and putting away the bad balls, stroking the ball along the ground for singles. I just don't think we trusted our defence as much as we should have," the West Indies skipper said in his post-match chat with reporters.
A 73-run stand between Roston Chase (53) and Keemo Paul (47) in the first innings, and two 40-run plus stands while following on [first between Kieran Powell and Shai Hope and the second between Powell and Chase] were the only instances when the West Indian batters made the Indian bowlers sweat a bit.
Powell looked set for his century before Yadav had him caught at silly point on 83 in the second innings. Neither were Hope (10) and Chase (53) able to judge the drift Ashwin generated in the first innings nor was debutant Sherman Lewis (0) able to pick his carom ball that left him flummoxed.
Brathwaite urged his batters to learn from the Indians. "If we can learn from them [Indian batsmen], take a page out of their book, that will put us in good stead going forward. Obviously, there were a few nerves. It's Test cricket, so it's never easy. It is important to trust in defence and go 100 per cent when you attack," he said.
Also Read: It's Time To Consider Jadeja India's No. 1 Spinner, Says Dilip Doshi
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