After Ashwin’s ferocious four-fer, Kuldeep Yadav maiden five-wicket haul turned out to be the biggest nightmare for West Indies as they lost the first Test by an innings and 272 runs. Virat Kohli & his men showcased an all-round performance to wrap up the five-day Test match within 3 days.
With this victory, India now lead the 2-match Test series 1-0. The second and the final test will begin from October 12 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.
The visitors are within touching distance of getting bowled out for the second time in the day after being bundled out for 181 in the first innings before lunch. Opener Kieran Powell was the only West Indian batsman to make a significant contribution in the second essay, an entertaining 83 off 93 balls with eight boundaries and four sixes.
Ashwin was their main tormentor in the morning and in the second session, it was Kuldeep's turn to dominate. The opposition batsmen, who needed to spend time in the middle, seemed to be in a hurry to finish the game. Punishing a loose ball is fine but they went for far too many strokes and paid the price for their recklessness.
Kuldeep thrived on that, mixing it up nicely to fox the batsmen. After he trapped Shai Hope in front for his first wicket, he removed the highly-rated Shimron Hetmyer who went for a wild slog across the line to be caught at the short third man.
He used his googly to send back Sunil Ambris, who stepped out without having any idea of the way the ball will turn.
In the third session, Jadeja didn’t waste much time to take the rest two wickets and handed over India a superb victory. He removed Sherman Lewis (4) and Shanon Gabriel (4) to end with a 3-wicket haul in the second innings.
Earlier, Ashwin produced a brilliant spell as India enforced the follow-on against the West Indies. At lunch, the West Indies were 33 for one in nine overs in their second innings with Ashwin removing skipper Kraigg Brathwaite (10) for his fourth wicket of the day.
Brief Scores:
India 1st Innings: 649 for 9 in 149.5 overs (Virat Kohli 139, Prithvi Shaw 134, Ravindra Jadeja 100; Devendra Bishoo 4/217).
West Indies: 181 all out in 48 overs (Roston Chase 53, Keemo Paul 47; Ravichandran Ashwin 4/37, Mohammed Shami 2/22) & 196 from 50.5 overs (Kieran Powell 83; Kuldeep Yadav 5/57).