India won the first Test of the two-match series against the West Indies on Saturday. The Rohit Sharma-led side crushed the hosts by an innings and 141 runs on the third day of the match and made a successful start to their World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. Asked to bowl first, the visitors bowled out West Indies for just 150 in the first innings and were 421/5 before declaring in the first session on day three. However, captain Rohit Sharma’s displeasure with wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan. went viral.
Ishan, who made his debut in the longest format with this match, took 20 balls to open his run tally, leaving Rohit furious. When Ishan failed to make the mark in the first 19 deliveries, the captain came out of the dressing room and urged him to take a single.
After the match ended, Rohit opened up about the situation and revealed that he was educating the batsmen that he would declare the innings after one over and wanted Ishan to open his run chart.
“I was letting them know that we had an over or so before declaring. I wanted Ishan to mark off, tell him to get his personal mark and then we should declare. I could see he was always eager. Bat, it will be frustrating for them,” Rohit told the media.
Senior off-spinner R Ashwin took another five-wicket haul (7/71) as India won the first Test against the West Indies by an innings and 141 runs. Rohit praised his team’s bowling efforts and said that India’s dismissal of the hosts for 150 was “game-fixing” for India.
“I want to start by saying it was a great effort with the ball. They were bowled out for 150 and that set the game up for us. We knew the batting was going to be tough and scoring runs was not going to be easy. We knew we had to bat. Just bat once. Get over 400, then we got out, bowled well, Rohit said.
India, who were 400 for four at lunch, declared their first innings at 421 for five and took a huge lead of 271 runs. West Indies were bowled out for 130 in their second innings in the extended final session, ending the match in three days.
With PTI inputs
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