India dominated the first day of second Test against West Indies on Saturday as Ravichandran Ashwin continued to bamboozle the West Indies batsmen with another five-wicket haul while Lokesh Rahul scored an unbeaten half-century.
Ashwin grabbed 5 for 52 in 16 overs en route his 18th five-wicket haul in longer format as West Indies were all-out for 196 in 52.3 overs.
The off-spinner took centrestage after Seamers Mohammed Shami (2-23) and Ishant Sharma (2-53) dismantled the hosts' top order on a bowler-friendly pitch. West Indies slipped to 7-3 with Jermaine Blackwood (62) dismissed in the final over of the session as West Indies reached lunch on 88-4.
Holder surprised many by putting his side into bat, with Indian counterpart Virat Kohli saying he would have chosen to bowl.
While the hosts struggled with the conditions, India blunted the West Indies attack with relative ease as the openers scored steadily before Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by off spinner Roston Chase for 27, making it 87-1.
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, 5x4). Giving company was Cheteshwar Pujara batting on (18 batting).
Earlier, in the West Indies innings it was Jermaine Blackwood, who showed some counter-attacking instincts with a run-a-ball 62 that had seven fours and four sixes. Along with Marlon Samuels (37, 88 balls), Blackwood added 81 runs for the fourth wicket after the Caribbeans were reeling at 7 for 3 with Ishant and Shami polishing off the top-order.
However Ashwin held sway in the second session where West Indies lost six wickets for 108 runs to get all-out for a score of less than 200 runs.
Ashwin now has 188 victims in 34 matches. He also has the disticntion of four five-wicket hauls in successive matches. He is only the third Indian spinner to do so after Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble.
The slide in the post-tea session began when Samuels starting to attack, was fooled by Ashwin's flight lobbing a simple catch to KL Rahul short-leg.
Six overs later, Shane Dowrich (5) edged one behind from the toe-end of his bat, the batsman in half mind whether to leave or play at the ball.
At the other end, Shami got rid of Chase, and he should have had Devendra Bishoo's scalp too. But the batsman was twice given not out off successive deliveries in the 39th over, even though he seemed to have edged behind off both.
He was on 2 then, and added 10 runs to his individual score, before Ashwin trapped him into playing a sweep shot that leapt up in the air and was safely pouched by Shikhar Dhawan at short fine leg in the 44th over.
