Team India bowlers were on the money from the get-go in the first Test against the West Indies on Wednesday, July 12 as the hosts lost half their side for not many. Playing after more than a month with a new-look line-up, the Indian bowlers were up to speed as West Indies batters after keeping them at bay for a few hours, just gave in and R Ashwin was the first one to get his name on the scorecard.
Ashwin dismissed both openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and skipper Kraigg Brathwaite with the latter playing a poor shot and completely mistiming it. Shardul Thakur with his goldern arm was the next before Ravindra Jadeja got a lucky breakthrough at the stroke of lunch owing to Mohammed Siraj's brilliance in the field.
Jermaine Blackwood, who is known for his aggressive game, wanted to take on Jadeja, however, mistimed his lofted shot. Siraj at long-off had to come in and make a run to reach the ball and still put in a diving effort to catch it and he did all of it. Siraj had to fly in the air and he grabbed the ball while being air-borne and eventually laid flat on the ground as he knew it was a commanding effort to take the catch.
Siraj's teammates surrounded him in a jiffy as they knew it was a superb catch.
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Since the wicket fell, the umpires called in lunch early. After the break, the Indian bowlers continued their splendid run as Jadeja got his second wicket of the day. Jadeja foxed wicketkeeper batter Joshua Da Silva on the backfoot as he gave a simple catch to Ishan Kishan, who took his second of the day on his debut.
West Indies had lost half their side till 76 before Jason Holder and debutant Alick Athanaze strung a slow but solid partnership of 48 runs to do the rescue job for the home side, one which they desperately needed it.
