India Win First Test Against Listless West Indies By 318 Runs, Take 1-0 Series Lead

Picture : Twitter / BCCI

The series was touted to be one sided contest and the first Test at Antigua between India and West Indies proved that . India powered their way to a thumping 318 run win against the hosts to take a 1-0 lead in two Test match series.

Skipper Virat Kohli moved past Sourav Ganguly’s record with most away wins in Tests . He is now tied with Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 27 wins in Tests. And looks all set to become India’s most successful skipper in the years ahead.

It was India’s fourth-biggest Test win but biggest in away Tests as winning by 336 runs against South Africa in Delhi in 2015-16 remains their best ever.

The big plus for India was the performance of the seamers Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah . Both bowled fiery match- winning spells in first and second innings respectively .

India had scored 297 in the first innings with Ajinkya Rahane top scoring with 81, Ravindra Jadeja 58 , Kl Rahul 44.

West Indies were bowled out for 222. Ishant Sharma was the star with 5/ 43. Supported well by Mohammed Shami 2/ 48, and Ravindra Jadeja 2/ 64

India in second innings scored 343 for 7 declared setting the hosts a target of 419 . Ajinkya Rahane finally broke his two year test hundred drought with a fine 102, Hanuma Vihari scored 93, skipper Virat Kohli scored 51.

West Indies were blown away by India’s pace attack – Jasprit Bumrah was unplayable with stunning figures of 5 / 7. Ishant Sharma gave fine support with 3/ 31. So too did Mohammed Shami 2/ 13 . The hosts were bundled out for mere 100 runs.

The convincing win will ensure no discussion why Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran  Ashwin were overlooked for the Test.