India vs West Indies 2018, First Test: 3 Game changing moments from the match

India hammered the visiting Windies team in the first Test played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot as the hosts completed their biggest win in terms of runs against Windies.

The visitors were all out for 196 runs in their second inning after being asked to follow-on and conceded a defeat by an innings and 272 runs.

Leading into their only remaining home Test series of the year, India was always the favorite to clinch the game. Astonishingly the Windies batsmen displayed no will to stay longer at the crease and there were only two fifties across their two innings on what was a really good pitch to bat on.

Hero for India in batting was the debutant Prithvi Shaw, who scored a brilliant 134 while Captain Kohli scored his customary Test century and ended up with 139. Ravindra Jadeja later pitched in with his maiden hundred as well.

The Indian bowling, especially the spinners dominated the Windies batsmen and cleaned them up below 200 runs in both their innings.

Ravichandran Ashwin bagged four wickets in the first innings while Kuldeep Yadav collected his maiden five-wicket Test haul. India dominated the Test match thoroughly, still here are three game-changing moments from the first Test.

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#1 Missing out on the captain and bowler Jason Holder

The captain and their primary bowler Jason Holder was ruled out of the first Test due to an injury which he attracted while practicing in the UAE

Windies received the biggest blow of the match well before even the toss had taken place. The captain and their primary bowler Jason Holder was ruled out of the first Test due to an injury which he attracted while practicing in the UAE.

Windies opted for Kraigg Brathwaite as the replacement captain and handed a Test debut to Sherman Lewis.

Windies, who were bowling first in the Test, severely missed the bowling of Jason Holder as the Indian batsmen kept piling on the runs. Holder has the experience of 34 Tests and has picked up 81 wickets in those matches. His inclusion could have boosted the bowling confidence of the team.

Holder’s captaincy was also missed as Brathwaite was incredibly unaware of the required field changes. With no pressure at all, Indian batsmen made merry on the placid batting track and raised a mammoth first innings score.

Holder was missed in the batting department as well. The all-rounder has scored two Test centuries and averages around 30 in Test cricket. A few runs from Holder could have decreased the losing margin.

#2 Prithvi Shaw-Cheteshwar Pujara’s partnership of 206 runs

Shaw and No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara did not allow any sort of comeback for the West Indian bowlers and stitched together a 206-run partnership for the second wicket

India in this Test match began with a fresh opening pair of KL Rahul and Prithvi Shaw. Both the previous openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were dropped by the selectors and also decided to hand the Test cap to young 18-year old Prithvi Shaw, who had impressed with his stunning run accumulation in domestic cricket.

Surprisingly, it was little Prithvi Shaw who stepped up to face the first ball of the match. After leaving alone the first ball, Shaw ran three by playing a solid shot and handed the strike to KL Rahul against Shannon Gabriel.

The pace bowler from WI struck an early blow and dismissed Rahul in the first over itself. India was 3/1 at that point.

With Gabriel running in, another wicket could have pushed India on the backfoot. However, Shaw and No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara did not allow any sort of comeback for the West Indian bowlers and stitched together a 206-run partnership for the second wicket thus driving India into a position of advantage.

#3 Captain Kohli and Vice-captain Rahane’s stand of 105 runs

The fourth-wicket partnership from Kohli-Rahane took India to a dominating position from which Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja could play attacking innings without any fear

After a tremendous partnership of Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwar Pujara, India had reached a comfortable position of 209/1.

However, the debutant Sherman Lewis removed Cheteshwar Pujara and the leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo dismissed Prithvi Shaw to peg back India.

At the score of 232/3, there was a chance for the Caribbean team to make a comeback. Any such attempts were thwarted by the Indian pair of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. Kohli, returning to cricket after a break from the Asia Cup, was cautious and did not take any risk in his path towards his 24th Test century.

Rahane played his strokes and partnered Virat in the 105-run partnership. The Mumbai batsman was ultimately dismissed for 41.

The fourth-wicket partnership from Kohli-Rahane took India to a dominating position from which Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja could play attacking innings without any fear.

The strong base helped India pile up 649 runs in their first innings and then crushing Windies with their bowling force.