History beckons for Ashwin as WI crumble

A brilliant exhibition of spin bowling from Ravichandran Ashwin along with a rapid half-century by KL Rahul has put India in a commanding position after the first day of the second Test in Jamaica.

The No.1 ranked bowler in the world, Ashwin dismantled the West Indies batting with figures of 5-52 as the hosts were dismissed for a paltry 196. In reply, India were 1-126 at stumps with Rahul unbeaten on 75.

It's the fourth consecutive Test in which Ashwin has taken a five-wicket haul, becoming just the third Indian after Bhagwath Chandrashekhar and Anil Kumble to achieve the feat.

It was also the off-spinner's 18th haul of five wickets or more in an innings from just 34 Tests - meaning he takes one every second match he plays - and brings him just 12 short of the 200-wicket milestone. If Ashwin claims 12 wickets or more in the second innings here and the third Test in St Lucia, he will break the 80-year-old record of Australia's pre-WWII spinner Clarrie Grimmett as the fastest bowler in history to 200 career wickets.

FASTEST TO 200 TEST WICKETS

*Ashwin has 188 wickets in his 34th Test

Opting to bat first on a pitch with an even covering of grass and a bit of moisture, the West Indies top order were thoroughly tested right from the outset. Both Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami extracted prodigious movement and it didn’t take long for the pair to make inroads into the fragile hosts.

Kraigg Braithwaite (1) was Ishant’s first victim, popping a ball angled at his chest into the waiting hands of short-leg. Next ball, Darren Bravo (0) edged an outswinger from around the wicket into the hands of Virat Kohli at second slip. Shami then reduced the West Indies to 3-8 by luring Rajendra Chandrika (5) to edge a ball that seamed away from him straight to gully.

Walking out in the sixth over at No.5, Jermaine Blackwood made his intentions clear by thrashing the fourth ball he faced to the boundary. Batting with minimal footwork, Blackwood backed his eye as he smashed Ishant back over his head for six and then followed it up by hitting the lanky pacer for two more boundaries in the same over.

Blackwood did the majority of the scoring as his partner Marlon Samuels took 30 balls to get off the mark. The introduction of spin seemed to light up Blackwood’s eyes even further as he ran down the pitch to dispatch Ashwin and Amit Mishra into the stands on more than one occasion.

Blackwood brought up his half-century in just 46 balls as he continued to be savage on anything in his hitting zone. But on 62, his luck finally ran out as a sharp off-break from Ashwin trapped in front of his stumps leaving the hosts 4-88 at lunch.

After batting patiently in the first session, Samuels decided to open his shoulders after the interval. The veteran hit Ishant for three consecutive fours before dancing down the pitch to deposit Ashwin over the rope.

Ashwin however would get his revenge soon after by deceiving Samuels (37) in flight and causing him to inside edge one to short-leg to a ball that gripped and bounced.

Generating sharp spin and bounce from a damp pitch, Ashwin snared his third scalp when he had Shane Dowrich (5) caught behind, as the West Indies crumbled to 6-127.

Despite the sun baking the pitch, Shami still managed to generate enough seam movement to beat the bat on numerous instances. After several close shaves he finally got his reward by having Roston Chase (10) nicking his outswinger to the cordon.

From the other end Ashwin continued to bamboozle the West Indian batsmen with drift, spin and bounce. Devendra Bishoo became his fourth victim when he top edged a sweep to short fine-leg on 12 and a couple of overs later, captain Jason Holder popped a simple bat-bad catch to Rahul to give Ashwin his 18th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Ashwin’s brilliance had triggered the West Indies to collapse from 3-88 to 9-158 in space of 20 overs and it took some uneducated slogging by last wicket pairing of Miguel Cummins and Shannon Gabriel to propel the score to 196.

While Ashwin was the standout bowler, the initial spell from Shami (2-23) and Ishant (2-53) also proved to be pivotal in restricting the West Indies to below 200.

Rahul then gave India a sparking start by cashing in on anything that was marginally over-pitched. Replacing the injured Murali Vijay in the side, the right-hander drove the ball elegantly, hitting nine free flowing boundaries as he raced to his fifty in just 58 balls. The opener was equally impressive in defence as he presented full face of the bat and displayed assured footwork against the seaming ball. 

Shikhar Dhawan began cautiously but also started to score briskly as the ball lost its shine as the pair added 87 before Dhawan (27) drove off-spinner Chase straight to cover to give the hosts a much needed breakthrough. 

Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahul would add a further 39 runs as India ended the day only 70 runs shy of the West Indies' total ahead of a second day that presents India with an ideal opportunity to further stamp their authority in this match and the series.

The hosts, meanwhile, must bounce back and ignore any possible regrets about their decision to bat first on a pitch that aided seam bowling.

FIVE-WICKET HAULS PER TEST

• SF Barnes (England): 24 in 27 Tests (one every 1.13 Tests)
• Clarrie Grimmett (Australia): 21 in 37 Tests (one every 1.76 Tests)
• Ravichandran Ashwin (India): 18 in 34 Tests (one every 1.88 Tests)
• Muthiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka): 67 in 133 Tests (one every 1.98 Tests)
• Richard Hadlee (New Zealand): 36 in 86 Tests (one every 2.38 Tests)