Watch: Ravi Ashwin castles Tagenarine Chanderpaul to give India first breakthrough

Ravi Ashwin picked up 2 early wickets for India and dismissed both West Indies openers.

After getting dropped from India playing XI for World Test Championship Final against Australia at The Oval, Ravi Ashwin has bounced back superbly in the first test at Windsor Park in Dominica. India’s leading off-spinner Ravi Ashwin showed his prowess and dismissed Windies opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul (12).

Ashwin with his usual off-spin rattled Tagenarine’s bails easily. West Indian opener got off to a cautious start as captain Kraigg Brathwaite (20) and Chanderpaul negated the Pacers in the first hour. Ashwin was brought in early as a bowling change to deceive the West Indies openers with pace variations that proved fruitful for the Indian camp. 

Ashwin got India first breakthrough

In the 13th Over, Ashwin drew Tagenarine Chanderpaul for a forward defence while he pitched the ball in the middle and off stump that turned a bit. Ashwin also got a little bounce to completely bamboozle Chanderpaul Junior. Ball moved up and rattled the bails to give India their first breakthrough in the game. Soon after Ashwin also sent Windies captain Kraigg Brathwaite back in the dressing room. Brathwaite lost his wicket while attempting a shot against Ashwin, Indian captain Rohit Sharma caught him in the cover region on 20 runs. 

Ravi Ashwin has become the third bowler to dismiss the Chanderpaul father and son duo in his career. He has dismissed Chanderpaul senior, Shivnarine Chanderpaul as well in test cricket. Along with him, Mitchell Starc and Simon Harmer have also got the Chanderpaul father-son duo out. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first, they are playing with two seamers and two spinners. They have also handed Alick Athanaze his test debut. India have also handed two test caps as opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan have made their debut. Indian pace attack didn’t look much threatening in the first hour.