Srinagar: Ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a brilliant comeback to put India in the driver’s seat against hosts West Indies on the first day of the opening Test in Dominica on Wednesday.
Ashwin ended up with figures of 5 for 60 in 24.3 overs as West Indies got all out for a lowly 150 in 64.3 overs while as Ravindra Jadeja took 3/26 in 14 overs.
With more than an hour available for batting skipper Rohit Sharma (30 batting, 65 balls) and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 batting, 73 balls) added 80 runs for the opening stand to bring down first innings deficit to 70 going into second day.
Making full use of the slow two-paced track that also offered turn and bounce, Ashwin had reasons to be chuffed as he became third Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (956 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (711) to complete 700 scalps across formats in international cricket.
He also achieved the distinction of being first Indian bowler to dismiss father and son when he got rid of Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s son Tagenarine, having dismissed the father on his Test debut in 2011. Save debutant left-hander Alick Athanaze (47 off 99), who batted responsibly till his dismissal, none of the Caribbean batters had the technique to survive on a slow turner as none of them could even cross 20-run mark.
