ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – West Indies sank to a depressing innings and 141 runs defeat against India in the first Test yesterday in Dominica after Ravichandran Ashwin preyed on their supine batting with a destructive spell of off-spin bowling.
Hometown boy Alick Athanaze made the top score of 28 and Jason Holder was not out on 20, but Ashwin carved up the batting of the Caribbean side to end with seven for 71 from 21.3 overs and match figures of 12 for 131, and the hosts were bowled out for 130 in their second innings about 10 minutes past the scheduled close on the third day.
Trailing by 271 on first innings, the West Indies opening pair of left-hander Tagenarine Chanderpaul and their captain Kraigg Brathwaite managed to defy the Indian new-ball pair of Mohammad Siraj and Jaydev Unadkat through the first four overs of the innings.
Life for the West Indies batsmen was made practically impossible once India captain Rohit Sharma turned to his established spin bowling pair of Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, and they exploited the appreciable turn and bounce on offer from the Windsor Park pitch.
In the span of an hour either of tea, the Caribbean side buckled to 32 for four under the burden of proof from the two spinners, both bowling around the wicket to create impossible angles for clueless batsmen.
Chanderpaul was lbw for seven in the third over from Jadeja with a delivery that kept low, and Ashwin got Brathwaite caught at slip for the same score, and West Indies sipped tea on an uneasy 27 for two.
In the second over after the break, their vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood was lbw to Ashwin for five, and left-hander Raymon Reifer made 11 before he suffered a similar fate to Jadeja in the next over.
Joshua Da Silva came to the crease and drew on the experience of batting with Athanaze on the last West Indies A Team Tour of Bangladesh in June, and they carried the hosts past 50, but India are a far superior side, and they both departed before the total reached 100.
Da Silva was lbw for 13 playing back to pacer Mohammed Siraj, and Athanaze failed to make the most of being dropped on one off Ashwin, and he was caught at forward short leg playing defensively forward to the same bowler.
Alzarri Joseph decided the best means of defence was attack and hit a couple beefy strokes and with Holder got West Indies to 100 exactly before he was caught at deep mid-wicket off Ashwin and this triggered the final slide with the last four wickets for the Caribbean side falling for 30 in the span of 49 balls.
Ashwin formalised the result when he got Jomel Warrican lbw for 18, essaying a reverse sweep, and India took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series, which moves on Thursday to the Trinidad & Tobago capital of Port of Spain for the 100th Test at Queen’s Park Oval.
“On the toss, I think the pitch played quite good, and it did not spin much on day one,” Brathwaite said in the post-play TV interview.
“I just think we let ourselves down with the bat (in the first innings), scoring only 150, we knew the pitch was going to get drier and spin more, and so that first innings total was not good enough.”
He said: “What disappointed me most was that I did not get any runs. I think in this team I have to lead from the front – and that’s my job. I really have got to do better.
“First innings, one or two dismissals, especially at particular times, wasn’t good for us. We were getting the partnership just before lunch, and we lost a wicket the ball before.
There were situations in the game at times when we lost it – but for me, I think as a senior guy you know I’ve got to lead the way.”
Earlier in the day, West Indies were hamstrung after India resumed from their overnight total of 312 for two.
Joseph and burly off-spin bowling compatriot Rahkeem Cornwall were unable to bowl at the start because of time spent off the field the previous day, and this enabled the visitors the comfort to pile up the runs before they declared about 40 minutes after lunch on 421 for five, replying to West Indies first innings total of 150.
Fortunately for Joseph, he was cleared to bowl after half-hour, and he made the breakthrough when he got debutant left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (later named Player-of-the-Match) caught behind for the top score of 171 to usher in the morning refreshments break.
Fellow pacer Kemar Roach got Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane caught at cover essaying a loose drive three overs after the break, and India were 356 for four.
The home team came under pressure for the remainder of the session when Brathwaite employed the uncomplicated off-spin of himself and Athanaze, and Jadeja and Virat Kohli stepped up a gear with a couple of boundaries each, and India reached 400 for four at lunch.
With Cornwall able to bowl after the interval, he got Kohli, the former India captain, caught at leg-slip for 76, and as soon as debutant Ishan Kishan scored his first run, Sharma declared.
