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India’s Mohammed Siraj poses after winning the player of the match award after India won the match to draw the International Test Match Series against England at Kia Oval in London, Britain.
India’s Mohammed Siraj ripped through the West Indies top order with a fiery opening spell to claim three wickets and leave the tourists reeling at 90-5 at lunch on day one of the first test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
West Indies skipper Roston Chase was batting on 22 after Shai Hope fell for 26 just before the break, looking to rebuild the innings as his team bid for a first test victory in India since 1994, when the series was drawn 1-1.
The tourists were rocked by India’s fast bowlers early on after Chase won the toss and elected to bat first.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul gloved one from Siraj (3-19) to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel and fell for an 11-ball duck on his return to the side.
John Campbell was then caught behind off Jasprit Bumrah for eight after a review by India to join his opening partner in the dressing room shortly after, leaving the West Indies in trouble at 20-2 on a pitch that assisted the bowlers.
After a good start to his innings, Brandon King (13) paid a heavy price for a poor leave when Siraj got a ball to come back in and crash into the wickets, before Alick Athanaze (12) edged the paceman to KL Rahul at second slip.
Kuldeep then marked his selection as India’s third spinner alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar by castling Hope just before the break.
Thrashed 3-0 by Australia on home soil in July, the West Indies are missing injured seamers Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph for their first tour of India in seven years.
India are playing their first test at home under new captain Shubman Gill following the retirements of veterans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.
They are aiming to banish memories of their last home series when they lost 3-0 to New Zealand late last year.
