West Indies made the most of the Antigua’s well-offered conditions thanks to Kemar Roach who stole the show with figures of 3-34 to help the hosts to put India under pressure on Day 1 of the first Test of their ICC World Test Championship on Thursday, 22nd August.
In the opening day of the two-match Test series, Roach didn’t allow the batsmen to go for more runs, as his tight spell included the wickets of India's Test stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara and the well set Hanuma Vihari, forced the tourists to finish the Day 1 at 203/6.
The hosts started with Roach getting the wickets of Pujara and opener Mayank Agarwal while Shannon Gabriel managed the crucial wicket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli for cheap 9 – within the first 10 overs of the day.
After the day’s play, Roach was delighted with the fact that things went on the way of the hosts and they are now targeting to sneak up the wickets on morning session on Day 2 to continue his dominance in the match against India here.
Roach told reporters on Thursday, “It was a normal Antigua pitch, where you would always get some moisture early on and help for the fast bowlers. The ball came out pretty good today. It's a place I love to play, I've had some success here before so I'm happy with how things have gone so far.”
However, Rahane managed to bring the tourists out of the crisis with his persistence partnerships with KL Rahul and Vihari. Roach said: “It (pitch) flattened out a bit quicker today than usual, so we had to be patient and build some pressure and challenge the batsmen. It was a good day for us, we did a very good job with the ball. Having then 200 runs for six wickets down... I would take that.”
Roach signed off by saying, “The morning session is going to be very crucial for us, you don't want them to punish us and go too far ahead of us. I will try to sneak up the wickets and get their bowlers out there as early as possible and attack them as far as possible. I think (giving India) 50-60 runs tomorrow will be fantastic for us and let the batsmen go out there and get a good hit.”
(With IANS Inputs)
