India Thrash West Indies in 3 days; Innings and 272-Run Victory

A young and revitalized Indian side squashed the opposition that the West Indies cricket team seemed to manage with great difficulty, scoring a decisive win in the first test match of a two test match series. The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot saw a superior performance of batting and bowling by the Indian team as they first notched up a massive target of 649 runs before declaring, followed by causing the West Indies to follow on and lose by an innings and 272 runs. This marks India’s 100th test match win at home.

Although India batted for most of the first two days of the match, it seemed like an otherwise unready and unwilling West Indies team were all too eager to give up their wickets and call it a game. The match ended well before the end of the 3rd day. Three Indian batsmen scored centuries, including young debutant Prithvi Shaw, captain Virat Kohli and part-time bowler Ravindra Jadeja. The only batsman to miss out a chance to score some runs was K.L. Rahul who got out on the fourth ball of the Indian innings.

In the bowling department, it was the spinners who stole the show, with much support from the faster bowlers. Ravichandran Ashwin took 4 wickets and conceded only 37 runs in his eleven overs in the first West Indian innings, where they only managed to score 181 runs in 48 overs. In their second and follow-on innings of 196 runs in 50.5 overs, it was Kuldeep Yadav who got his first Test five-for, taking these wickets in 14 overs that he bowled, and only conceding 57 runs in the process.