R Ashwin‘s seven wickets and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s great knock helped India to win the match against West Indies by an innings and 141 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal was awarded Player of the Match for his innings of 171 runs.
On the 3rd day a total of 13 wickets fell. India started their day 2 with a score of 312-2, Kohli and Jaiswal both made a partnership of 110 runs for the 3rd wicket. Alzarri Joseph took the wicket of Jaiswal and broke the partnership. Jaiswal goes after making a solid knock of 171 runs including 16 fours and 1 six. (350-3). Then Rahane came but he couldn’t survive much longer and Roach got the wicket in his new spell. He made 3 runs. (356-4).
Cornwall gets the most important wicket of Kohli as his catch was dropped earlier. Kohli’s patience innings of 76 runs in 182 balls ended. He hits only 5 fours. (405-5). After that Jadeja and Kishan both added a few more runs to the total and then Rohit declared the innings at 421 runs with the loss of 5 wickets. Jadeja remained not out on 37 runs and Kishan was on 1 run.
Roach, Joseph, Cornwall, Athanaze and Warrican all get the credit of taking one wicket each. India gets a lead of 271 runs.
West Indies in their 2nd innings couldn’t stand against the turning balls of Ashwin. All the players go one after the other. First one departure was Chanderpaul and Jadeja gave the damage. He made 7 runs. (8-1). Next one was captain Braithwaite, when he was at 7 runs, Ashwin got him. (22-2). Then Ashwin gets his 2nd by dismissing Blackwood. He contributed only 5 runs. (32-3).
In the next over, Jadeja also gets his 2nd by dismissing Reifer. He is gone for 11 runs. (32-4). Now Siraj joins the party and gets the Caribbean wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva, he goes for only 13 runs. (58-5). Then the debutant who was the highest scorer in the 1st innings, remains the highest scorer in the 2nd innings by making 28 runs. But Ashwin came and did the damage. (78-6). Then Ashwin gets another one by sending off Alzarri Joseph. He went after contributing 13 runs. (100-7).
Ashwin gets his five by dismissing Cornwall and his 10th in the match. He scored only 4 runs. (108-8). Roach was the next one and Ashwin gets the credit again by sending him off at duck. (108-9). Then for the 10th wicket Warrican and Holder tried to delay the wicket, but eventually Ashwin took his 7th and got the wicket of Warrican. He made 18 runs. (130-10).
Ashwin bowled brilliantly by taking 12 wickets in the match, five in 1st innings and seven in 2nd innings. Jadeja took 2 wickets and Siraj got 1 wicket in the 2nd innings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal Awarded Player of the Match, he said,
“Preparation was pretty good. We were having a nice session. Spoke a lot to Rahul Dravid sir. Would like to thank all the selectors and Rohit bhai for having faith in me. It’s really nice, I have been working for this. I’ve been focusing on preparing well and having discipline. Playing Test cricket for India is very special and emotional for me. This is just the start. I need to keep my focus and keep working on my cricket. Lot of people helped me through my journey and I want to thank each and everyone of them. It was tremendous batting with the senior players. I look forward to learning more from them.”
Kraigg Braithwaite, West Indies Captain, said,
About the crowd and his gameplay, “I really want to thank the Dominica crowd for coming out. It was playing quite good on day one, we let ourselves down with the bat. It wasn’t spinning a lot. What disappointed me was I didn’t get any runs. It is my job to lead from the front. First innings, we lost too many wickets. As a senior guy I didn’t lead the way.”
On Playing against Ashwin and Jadeja, “It is tough. They have a good field set. You need to have the right balance between defending and trying to score. We didn’t execute the shots we wanted to, and we need to learn to use the bat more.”
On Athanaze, “He had a very good start. The way he batted he showed he loves playing. He did a job for us with the ball as well. His future is bright and he has a strong mind. He will do a lot for West Indies cricket.”
Rohit Sharma, India Captain, said,
About the game, “Every run you score for the country is important. I would like to start by saying it was a great effort with the ball. Getting them out for 150 set the game for us. We knew batting would get tough. It wasn’t easy to score runs. We knew we wanted to bat only once and bat long. Got over 400 runs and then we came out and bowled really well.”
About Yashasvi, “he has the talent. He has shown us in the past that he is ready. Came and batted sensibly. The temperament was also tested, at no stage he was panicking. The chats we had were to remind him that you belong here. You have done the hard yards, enjoy your time here.”
About declaring, “I was just letting them know we have an over or so before declaring. I wanted Ishan to get off the mark, wanted to tell him to get his personal mark and then we had to declare. I could see that he was always eager to bat, it could be frustrating for them.”
On Ashwin and Jadeja, “The result speaks for themselves. They have been doing it for a while. There isn’t much to tell them, it is about giving them the freedom to express. The experience these guys have on pitches like this is always a luxury. Both Ash and Jadeja were superb, especially Ashwin for coming out and bowling this way was class. Always nice to start well, it is a fresh cycle.
About the pitch and on the next Test, “We weren’t too worried about the pitch, we wanted to come here and see the results. Important to start well. Now talking about that momentum into the 2nd Test. There are a couple of new guys and people who haven’t had much Test cricket, so just about getting them out on the field now.”
Ashwin profile info credits: espncricinfo.com