India beat West Indies for their biggest test win

Wednesday 10th October 2018 03:52 EDT
 
 

India achieved their biggest-ever Test victory by beating West Indies in one of the most one-sided games in recent history, inflicting on the hapless visitors an innings and 272-run humiliation inside three days in the first Test at Rajkot. India dominated the game, amassing 649 for nine in their first innings before bowling out the West Indies twice on day three, to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

The visitors were bundled out for 181 in 48 overs before lunch and were expectedly forced to follow-on. They did not fare any better in the second innings, crumbling to 196 all out in 50.5 overs in the final session. While Ravichandran Ashwin (4/37) was the pick of the bowlers in the morning, Kuldeep Yadav (5/57) was all over the opposition batsmen in the second innings on way to a maiden five-wicket haul in Tests. The second and final Test will be played in Hyderabad from October 12-16. The absence of captain Jason Holder and pacer Kemar Roach also added to their woes.

For India, the game will be best remembered for the emergence of Prithvi Shaw, who announced his arrival in international cricket with a classy hundred on debut, becoming the youngest from the country to do so in Tests. Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja were the other centurions. By tea on Saturday, it became clear that the game will be done and dusted inside three days with the West Indies batsmen cutting a sorry picture at 185 for eight.

Opener Kieran Powell was the only West Indian batsmen 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 afternoon it was Kuldeep's turn to dominate. The opposition batsmen, who needed to bat for time, 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 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 morning session, Ashwin produced a brilliant spell as India enforced the follow-on.

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. The West Indies, resuming their first innings at 94 for six, lasted only an hour and 10 minutes, mainly due to efforts of Roston Chase (53) and Keemo Paul (47) who ended up sharing a 73-run stand. Ashwin ran through the tail on a pitch offering plenty of turn, ending with four for 37 in 11 overs as the West Indies were all out in 48 overs.

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18-year-old Prithvi Shaw scores century on Test debut

The 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw collected plenty of ‘youngest ever…’ milestones on his debut in the first Test against the West Indies at Rajkot. He started off by becoming the youngest specialist batsman to debut for India since Sachin Tendulkar in 1989 against Pakistan. He became the second youngest Test debut opener for India. By scoring a 56-ball 50, he became the youngest to score a 50 on Test debut for India. Later, he became the youngest to score a Test century on debut for India. He reached the milestone in 99 balls with 14 boundaries to his name. Shaw is the 106th player to score a century on Test debut and is the first since Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien against Pakistan earlier in the year. Last Indian to achieve this feat was Rohit Sharma, also against West Indies in 2013. Overall, 15 India players have scored centuries on Test debut.


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