Antigua: Ecstatic about India’s win against West Indies in the first Test of the three-match series at Antigua on Sunday, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that it was always a good feeling to start with a win in the series that it was a complete team performance.
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Not to forget Ashwin’s contribution by getting another hundred against West Indies and his third overall against them. “I can also get the ball to reverse, so I can bowl with the old ball too”, added Shami.
Iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to congratulate Kohli, Kumble and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who notched up a seven-wicket haul to set up India’s biggest margin of victory outside the sub-continent.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to score a double century overseas as the visitors took firm control of the first Test against the West Indies with a solid batting display here.
Ishant Sharma was the one Indian seamer to miss out first time round, but he trapped Brathwaite in front in the first over of the second innings as India tightened their grip on the first of four matches.
The hosts now trail India by 302 runs with two days of play left. The two sides will next lock horns at Sabina Park in Jamaica from July 30.
Ashwin had failed to pick up a single wicket in the first innings which was dominated by the Indian fast bowlers. The Tamil Nadu offspinner went wicketless in his first outing, but in the second easy he bowled like a man possessed, claiming five wickets in the second session to rip through WI batting line-up. Everyone is looking to contribute and that’s the most important thing with this team.
“We want to create winning habits, good habits”.
Pacemen Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav did the damage in the first innings with four wickets each, before Ashwin took over. Shannon (Gabriel) bowled extremely well, Bishoo was decent.
Their second innings saw a bit more fight shown from the top order, but only for a brief period.
While R Ashwin walked away with the player of the match honours, it was Virat Kohli who finished as the highest impact player of the match.
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He got good support from wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who contributed 40 to a 71-run stand for the sixth wicket before he became Dowrich’s first wicketkeeping victim in Test cricket, being stumped off the bowling of part-time off-spinner Brathwaite.
