India win first Test against West Indies

After a brilliant display from the willow-wielders, Indian bowlers too joined the party and bundled out West Indies for 243 to take a huge first innings lead of 323 runs. Returning from a one-and-a-half-year injury layoff, Mohammad Shami (4-66) and Umesh Yadav (4-41) took four wickets each to wreck the hosts, dismissing them for 243 with 13 overs still remaining in the day. But that was after Shane Dowrich (57 not out, 10 fours) and skipper Jason Holder (36) put on 69 runs for the eighth wicket.

India then enforced the follow-on. At stumps the hosts West Indies were placed at 21/1 in 13 overs in their  second innings, still trailing by 302 runs after the visitors had finished their first innings at 566 for eight declared. Earlier at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Dowrich and Holder looked good in the middle and kept the scoreboard ticking for the duration of their partnership, with the West Indies’ 200mark coming up in the 81st over and their 50-run stand coming off 80 balls. 

The new ball was taken thereafter, with R Ashwin (0-43) starting but he soon gave way to Yadav and Shami. Dowrich meanwhile got to his second Test half-century off 75 balls, even as runs started flowing owing to the hardness of the new ball. But it didn’t last long as Yadav finally induced an edge off Holder in the 86th over, caught behind by keeper Wriddhiman Saha. 

It was his sixth dismissal of the innings and he equalled the Indian record held by both Farokh Engineer and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Yadav then bowled Carlos Brathwaite (0) off the very first ball, as the burly batsman shouldered arms to an incoming delivery. Amit Mishra (2-43) then ended the resistance and bowled Shannon Gabriel (2).

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who took four wickets in the first innings to help India enforce the follow-on, said considering the slow nature of the pitch, bowling as many maiden overs as possible was their plan to create pressure on the West Indies’ batsmen.

West Indies were bowled out for 243 in their first innings in response to India’s 566 for eight declared and then were asked to follow-on. At stumps on the third day of the first Test, the hosts finished at 21 for 1. Incidentally, of the 103.2 overs India have bowled to West Indies so far in the Antigua Test, 34 have been maidens. “It is all about planning. Before the game we planned about bowling as many maiden overs as possible and frustrate the batsmen. We didn’t want to give them easy runs and we stuck to our plan, and the results came,” Yadav said. “On such wickets a lot of hard work is needed and you need to hold on to half chances. If we don’t, then wickets won’t come and it would be difficult to take 20 wickets, as the pitch would slow down even more. So the plan was to be consistent and bowl maiden overs, and force the batsmen into playing bad shots,” he added.