Dominant India crush hapless West Indies to register record win

The real challenge for the Virat Kohli-led Indian team lies not in taking on an abysmal West Indies, who lost the first Test at Rajkot by a record margin, but to guard itself against any complacency that tends to creep in during victories at home, which can also lead into any false sense of security.

For team that has lost six and won four out of 10 Tests this year, India resembled that clinical unit at Rajkot which a world No 1 team is expected to. However, such traits were far from visible for majority of tours to South Africa and England, and with an impending Australian tour, the team would be expected to stick with its new benchmarks.

India defeated West Indies by an innings and 272 runs — their biggest win by such a margin over any team in Test cricket — bettering their innings and 262-run win over Afghanistan earlier this year.

Their newest opener Prithvi Shaw smacked century on debut, Cheteshwar Pujara was among runs. Virat Kohli notched up his fourth hundred to bring up 1,000 runs in the year, even Ravindra Jadeja got to his elusive three-figure mark. Kohli and Shaw — who also took two sharp catches — entered record books with their respective knocks.

Ravichandran Ashwin (4/37, 2/71) remained unplayable at home, and Kuldeep Yadav (5/57) recorded his maiden five-for.

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There are more: India scored their first total in excess of 500 this year, their declaration at 649/9 was also their highest Test score against West Indies.

But this win neither hides nor solves the issue of India’s batting woes this year, wherein they have accumulated 7 scores of under 200, five scores less than 300, and four less than 400 which includes one declaration.

The failure of India’s newest opening pair of KL Rahul (0) and Shaw meant the question remained unanswered, and with Ajinkya Rahane’s lack of big scores, the team heads into the second Test at Hyderabad.

Nevertheless, on Saturday, if it was Ashwin running riot in the hapless Caribbean camp in the morning session, it was Kuldeep in the afternoon who ran through whatever the former world dominators have showed up with in name of batting.

Kuldeep claimed his maiden five-for in Test cricket in his fourth Test, bouncing back after being battered on the third day morning by the West Indian novice in Keemo Paul.

Playing only his second Test, Paul showed remarkable audacity to hit six fours and two sixes off the Chinaman bowler in his home conditions, falling three short of what would have been his maiden half-century. Roston Chase scored his first Test half-century showing resolve amid the rubble. Resuming with a deficit of 555 runs, West Indies folded for 181 in their first essay.

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Perhaps since the Indian bowlers were not made to toil for wickets and were still fresh — West Indies folded up in just one hour and 16 minutes into Day Three — and India still being 468 runs ahead, Kohli decided to impose follow-on.

As a pair, Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell had not even added as many runs together in Test cricket when they began West Indies’ second innings. Powell certified West Indies’ ‘attack is the best defence’ policy by racing to a 93-ball 83 studded with four sixes and eight fours, but the others fell for strokes unwanted, with the second-best score being 20 from Chase. He had scored a 79-ball 53 in the first innings.

India had reduced West Indies to 94/6 in the final session on Day Two, folded them up early on Day Three and had removed Brathwaite before lunch in their second effort. The game ended a little over 30 minutes into the final session, with West Indies being bowled out for 196.

First Published: Oct 06, 2018 16:55 IST