Zeenews Sports Bureau
New Delhi: Experienced hand Shivnarine Chanderpaul faced little trouble from a new-look Indian bowling attack and completed his 24th Test hundred with ease. West Indies were 256/5 at stumps on the first day of first Test against India on Sunday.
Electing to bat, the West Indies openers were made to toil hard by the Indian spinners. After the initial hiccup, Chanderpaul took charge to steady innings ably supported by Brathwaite. However, Brathwaite’s long resistance ended after he fell to Pragyan Ojha. Skipper Dhoni wasted no time to pull off a quick stumping off a wider delivery from Ojha to make it three wickets for the off-spinner.
Debutant Ashwin sent back in-form Darren Bravo early to pick up his maiden Test wicket and followed it up with the wicket of Marlon Samuels. Chanderpaul’s innings included six fours and 2 sixes.
Earlier, a double strike from Pragyan Ojha put West Indies on the backfoot before lunch on the first day of the first Test between India and West Indies. Windies young openers Kieran Powell and Kraigg Brathwaite started off cautiously on a slow Kotla wicket. Ojha gave the hosts early breakthrough after sending off Powell. A well flighted delivery trapped Powell before the wicket.
Soon, he caught Kirk Edwards off his own ball for his second wicket. Ojha, coming after a splendid run in the domestic circuit, made Windies openers toil hard on Sunday.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test of the three-match series against India on Sunday.
India are full strength in the batting department with the likes of Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj. Yuvraj Singh made a comeback to the Test side, while Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are out for this game. Umesh Yadav and R Ashwin also made their debuts.
Teams:
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt), R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav.
West Indies: Kieran Powell, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh, Darren Sammy (capt), Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Devendra Bishoo.
