India v West Indies – 1st Test – Complete Recap – Part 1
West Indian bowlers, Fidel Edwards and Devendra Bishoo, stunned the Indian batting line-up in the first of the three-match Test series, at the Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, in the Caribbean.
The visitors were bowled out for 246 on day-one of the match on Monday, June 20, 2011. The home team also started their innings and reached 34 for the loss of one wicket until close of play. They trail by 212 runs with nine wickets still intact.
The Caribbean Kings were in a dominant position at one stage of the innings, but Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina fought back with a superb century partnership.
India’s World Cup winning skipper, MS Dhoni, returned to his side after taking a rest from the Limited form of cricket. He won the toss and opted to bat first, considering the good nature of the pitch. The wicket was dry and batting last would not be easy,
as the spinners might get a lot of assistance.
India were without their regular Test match openers and started the innings with promising Murali Vijay and debutant Abhinav Mukund.
Both players failed to make an impression in their first ever outing in Test cricket. Vijay was the first man to be dismissed after adding just eight runs to the total. His opening partner was the next man to go after scoring 11 runs.
The visitors lost two wickets for 30 runs on the board, but had two of their most experienced batsmen, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, out in the middle. They looked solid and collected 34 runs for the third wicket partnership. However, the latter failed to
make a big impression and was sent back to the pavilion after scoring just 12 runs.
Virat Kohli, who was also making his debut in the match, failed to impress and was dismissed for four. He was followed by Dravid, who played well for his 40 runs, but would have liked to carry onto make a big one.
Dhoni’s return to international cricket wasn’t as good as his fans would have liked, as the Indian captain was undone for a duck. He had to take the long walk back to the pavilion, as the visitors were left struggling at 85/6.
Lower-order batsmen, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh came to the rescue of their team with a brilliant century stand. They collected 146 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter finally got out after scoring 70 runs.
Raina top scored the innings with 82 runs and was the last wicket to fall in the Indian innings.
Edwards made a successful comeback to the Caribbean side, taking four wickets in the innings. He got terrific support from the promising leg-spinner, Bishoo, who grabbed three wickets.
West Indies lost their opener, Lendl Simmons, early after he scored just three runs. However, Adrian Barath and veteran Ramnaresh Sarwan ended the day safely for their side. They remained unbeaten on 26 and two respectively.
Ishant Sharma was the lone wicket-taker for India in the day.