Ashish Ranjan
After captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test at Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica, nothing has gone well for the West Indies. Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul gave their team a cautious start, but Chanderpaul was dismissed at the score of 12 with 31 runs scored by the host team.
Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s preeminent off-spinner, dismissed the gifted southpaw, the son of the legendary Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The experienced bowler castled Chanderpaul in his third over with a superbly tossed delivery.
Interestingly, twelve years ago in Delhi, Ashwin dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In that match, the Tamil Nadu bowler made his Test debut. On that occasion, he caught Chanderpaul senior in front of the wickets. Ashwin became the first Indian bowler to dismiss a father-son tandem after dismissing Tagenarine.
The 36-year-old also surpassed Anil Kumble’s record of 94 wickets for the most bowled dismissals in Tests by an Indian bowler.
India dominate proceedings on the first day.
The guests dominated the first session on Day 1 of the conference. West Indies lost four wickets and scored 68 runs in 28 overs before noon. Chanderpaul and Brathwaite were dispatched by Ashwin, while Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja removed Raymon Reifer and Jermaine Blackwood, respectively.
As Joshua Da Silva was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja for a second time shortly after noon, the West Indies slipped further. The wicketkeeper-batsman was only able to score a few runs during his 13-ball innings. India had hoped to commence the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle on a positive note after losing the final of the previous edition to Australia in June.
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They have appeared quite sharp on the field and hope to capitalize on their strong start as the game continues. Earlier in the day, India awarded Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan their first Test jerseys. When the occasion arises, it will be fascinating to observe how the two youngsters perform at bat.
