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India completely dominated the West Indies on the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal's 171 and Ravichandran Ashwin's 12 wickets across two innings to secure an innings and 142-run victory on Day 3 of the first Test in Roseau, Dominica, on Friday, July 14. It was the perfect way to get over the blues of losing the World Test Championship (WTC) final to Australia in June, as they added their first points for the new WTC cycle with a big win.
Skipper Rohit Sharma declared with India on 421 for 5, giving the home side a lead of 271 runs. And once again, India prevented the West Indies from scoring as they did in the first innings.
Starting with the spinners as India looked for early wickets, openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Braithwaite failed to read the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin. It was Jadeja who broke the deadlock in the 10th over with the wicket of Chanderpaul with just eight wickets on the board.
Ashwin's game through-and-through
Ashwin joined the action seven overs later, adding to his five-wicket haul from the first innings. He sent back skipper Braithwaite and was helped by a sharp catch from Rahane. Soon, the Windies were reeling at 32 for 4 with Jermaine Blackwood and Raymon Reifer dismissed as well.
Alick Athanaze and Joshua da Silva tried to resurrect their innings with a crucial partnership as the West Indies looked to limit the damage. Enter pacer Mohammed Siraj, who got the wicket of Da Silva after he scored 13 in 27 balls. Soon Athanaze followed suit as Ashwin claimed his third wicket of the innings with the score at 78/6.
West Indies give up
With the match in a very precarious, tail-enders Alzarri Joseph and Jason Holder were given the license to go for the big shots as they took the West Indies past the 100-run mark. But Joseph soon fell as Ashwin picked up his fourth leaving India with just three wickets to win the match.
Ashwin added the wicket of Rakheem Cornwall for his fifth to complete his 8th 10-wicket haul, equalling Anil Kumble's tally in the process. Kemar Roach too didn't last long, with Ashwin getting him in the same over.
The final player on the pitch was Jomel Warrican and his incredible hitting ability included a reverse sweep off Ashwin's bowling. But the off-spinner had the last laugh. getting Warrican LBW to wrap up India's victory.
Jaiswal misses massive record
Earlier, India started Day 3 at 312/2, and Jaiswal did not take much time to get to his 150, off 360 balls. He also became the fifth-youngest to register a 150-plus score on his Test debut, aged 21 years and 196 days. However, the youngster failed to become the first Indian batter to score a double century on his Test debut after edging one off Alzarri Joseph. He took 387 balls to score 171 runs and his innings was studded with 16 fours and one six, the third-highest by an Indian on Test debut.
Rahane fails, Kohli misses ton
After his wicket fell, Ajinkya Rahane could not carry his WTC final form and returned after handing a simple catch to Jermaine Blackwood off Kemar Roach's bowling. Rahane scored just three runs from 11 balls. Meanwhile, Kohli got to his half-century off just 147 balls. After a cautious start, Ravindra Jadeja hit Alick Athanaze for a six. Boundaries started to flow off Kohli's bat. At lunch break, India were 400/4.
In the first over after lunch break, Kohli was lured into a drive by Roach but wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva dropped a catch diving to his right. But Kohli could not make the hosts pay for two dropped catches. He fell into Rahkeem Cornwall's leg side trap as the extra bounce got the better of him. He got caught by Athanaze at leg slip. He scored 76 runs from 182 balls including five fours. Jadeja and Ishan Kishan were trying to build a partnership.
Kishan got off the mark off the 20th ball he faced. Just after Kishan, Rohit declared the innings with score reading 421/5. Jadeja remained unbeaten for 37 runs from 82 balls.
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