In the first match of the Test series against the West Indies, on the very first day, Rohit Sharma’s Team India has put the hosts under pressure. Under the leadership of R. Ashwin, the Indian bowlers displayed a splendid performance, restricting the Indies team to just 150 runs in their first innings in 64.3 overs. In response, Team India reached a score of 80 runs without losing a wicket by the end of the day’s play. At stumps, Yashasvi Jaiswal was at 40 and captain Rohit Sharma was at 30 on the crease.
The first day of the match belonged to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. He took 5 wickets by giving away only 60 runs in his spell of 24.3 overs. With this performance, he proved the Indian team management’s decision to not include him in the playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final wrong. He has now taken five or more wickets on 33 occasions in Test cricket.
R. Ashwin dismissed Alzarri Joseph to claim his third wicket of the innings and complete his 700th international wicket. He now has 702 wickets in international cricket, including 479 in Tests, 151 in ODIs, and 72 in T20Is.
Off-spinners are considered highly effective for left-handed batsmen. Ashwin was being justified for a place in the playing XI of the Australian team in the WTC final due to their sufficient number of left-handers, but he didn’t find a place in the team. In the first innings against the West Indies, Ashwin dismissed two left-handed batsmen out of the five he got.
By dismissing Tagenarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Ashwin achieved a unique feat. He is among the few bowlers in Test cricket who have dismissed both father and son. Ashwin had dismissed Tagenarine’s father, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in 2011. Apart from them, England’s Ian Botham (Lance and Chris Cairns), Pakistan’s Wasim Akram (Lance and Chris Cairns), Australia’s Mitchell Starc (Shivnarine and Tagenarine Chanderpaul), and South Africa’s Simon Harmer (Shivnarine and Tagenarine Chanderpaul) have achieved this feat.
On the first day of the Test, Ashwin broke Anil Kumble’s record of the most number of times bowling out opposition batsmen. Kumble had bowled out 94 batsmen in his Test career, while Ashwin has now achieved this feat 95 times. Kapil Dev is third on the list with 88 instances.
