Veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed his 700th international wicket during Day 1 of the opening Test match against West Indies at Windsor Park, Dominica. The 36-year-old, who missed out on playing XI in World Test Championship returned to the starting line-up for the 1st Test on Thursday and spun his web around the Windies’ batters to showcase his class. The ace-spinner claimed four wickets in the first two sessions to help India dominate the opening day.
With his third wicket of the match - Alzarri Joseph, Ashwin completed 700 wickets in international cricket and became the third Indian after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to achieve the massive feat.
Live Score India vs West Indies 1st Test Day 1 Updates
India bowlers with 700 international wickets
953 - Anil Kumble
707 - Harbhajan Singh
701 - Ravichandran Ashwin*
Ashwin brought his A-game to the table on the opening day of the Test match and dismissed the hosts’ batters at regular intervals to strengthen India’s position in the game.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul became his first wicket of the match which helped him register his name in a unique record book. Ashwin became the first Indian to get the wickets of both father and son. The 36-year-old, who had made his Test debut in 2011 in New Delhi, had dismissed Tagenarine’s father Shivnarine Chanderpaul during his maiden appearance in the longest format.
It was another sensational bowling performance from the spin maestro as the Windies batters looked unprepared for the big challenge and played lofty shots against him and ended up losing wickets.
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Earlier, Ashwin removed both openers with his sheer artistry to put West Indies on the backfoot early.
Ashwin got one to hang in the air and drift into Chanderpaul, who played inside the line only to find it beat his outside edge after pitching and there was a death rattle.
West Indies skipper Brathwaite, easily the best Test batter in the side over the last five years, was increasingly getting frustrated as Ashwin bowled slightly quicker at times to him.
He did try to hit out of trouble with a slog swept boundary but the canny operator fired one across the line, inducing Brathwaite to go for a mindless bottom-handed slog over mid-on. However the mistimed slog only became easiest skiers for skipper Rohit Sharma stationed at cover.
