Debasis Sen, Kingston(Jamaica): Ravichandran Ashwin carried on his good form with ball from where he left in Antigua. The off spinner returned with a haul of five wickets as the hosts were bundled out for 196 runs in 52.3 overs. It was also his 18th career best five wicket haul in test cricket. India are 126/1 at stumps after Day 1 with KL Rahul unbeaten on 75 and Pujara batting on 18 runs. The visitors are only 70 runs away from taking a first innings lead at the Sabina Park.
Ashwin, who was named Man-of-the-Match in the first Test at North Sound, Antigua, picked up his fifth wicket of the second Test on Day 1 after the Windies chose to bat.
His fifth scalp was host skipper Jason Holder, who was caught by Lokesh Rahul. He ended up with figures of 5/52 as India bowled out West Indies for 196. This was also Ashwin’s fifth five-wicket haul against the West Indies.
West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and selected to bat first, but an opening burst of ferocious bowling from Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami reduced the Caribbean innings to 7/3 inside the first ten overs.
Middle-order batsman Jermaine Blackwood’s (62) fighting half-century lifted the hosts to 88/4 at the stroke of lunch on the opening day of the second Test against India here on Saturday. He was adjudged leg before to Ashwin after scoring a valuable 62 runs off 62 balls. His knock contained seven hits to the fence and four huge sixes. West Indies were 88/4 after 26 overs at lunch.
But a great spell of off spin bowling from Ashwin kept the Winides batsmen all at sea as they were bundled out for only 196 runs. The first to go after lunch was local favourite was Marlon Samuels who gave Rahul a simple catch at forward short leg of Ashwin for 37 runs. Samuels looked good before he got out as that opened the flood gates.
The hosts were quickly reduced to 158/9 as none of the West Indies batsmen showed any application. But a late strike from Shanon Gabriel and Cummins got the hosts to 196 runs. Gabriel was the last batsman to be dismissed by Mishra for 15 runs trying to hit against the spin, only to be caught by Kohli. Miguel Cummins remained not out on 24 runs. Ashwin returned with figures of 52/5 while both Ishant and Shami got couple of wickets each.
The visitors further consolidated their position by reaching 126 for 1at stumps on Day 1. They are now only 70 runs short of the West Indies first innings score.
Opener Rahul (75 batting) coming in place of an injured Murli Vijay made full use of the opportunity as he not only looked compact but also scored runs at a fair clip.
Rahul’s innings had 10 boundaries in 114 balls as he added 87 runs for the first wicket with a subdued Shikhar Dhawan (27, 52 balls, 5×4). Giving company was Cheteshwar Pujara batting on 18 not out.