After a delayed start due to rain, West Indies won the toss and skipper Jason Holder elected to bowl first in the first Test against India. The Windies bowlers rewarded the decision with a great opening spell which saw India’s top order troop back to the hut one by one.
Mayank Agarwal was unable to deal with Kemar Roach’s full length bowling and was the first to depart, in the fifth over itself.
Four balls later Roach dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara as well – India tottering at 7 for 2.
If Indian fans were looking to skipper Virat Kohli to dig them out of the hole as he has done so often in the past, they were to be disappointed on this day. He showed some promise with two boundaries but couldn’t handle Shannon Gabriel’s short balls, lobbing one for an easy catch to Shamarh Brooks at gully.
In walked Ajinkya Rahane, with India staring down the barrel at 25 for 3. Rahane was peppered with short balls by the West Indian quicks but he managed to show restraint and steady the innings with his partner at the other end, KL Rahul.
Rahul played a solid knock and looked set to turn it into a big one but was caught down the leg side off Roston Chase for 44, ending his 68-run stand with Rahane.
Rahane and Hanuma Vihari showed some aggressive batting after tea, putting on 82 runs together, before Roach accounted for the latter – Vihari out for a well made 32.
Rahane didn’t last very long after that, eventually chopping on when he was on 81 and failing to end his two year wait for a Test ton.
Rishabh Pant (20*) and Ravindra Jadeja (3*) were at the crease when stumps were called with India on 203/6 at the end of first day’s play.
