Dhawan steadies India in tough first session

ST JOHN’S, Antigua: India would have expected to work hard for their runs when they chose to bat on a slow pitch surrounded by a slow outfield in St John’s, but hands in front of helmets as protective action wouldn’t have been on agenda on the first day of their Test against West Indies on Thursday.

Under new bowling coach Roddy Estwick, the West Indies attack, thin on numbers but refreshingly bountiful in tenacity and discipline, tested the Indian top order in the first session of the series. Only 72 runs came till the lunch time for the loss of M Vijay to a lovely bouncer from Shannon Gabriel.

Questions about India’s weakness against the bouncer will be asked, but credit should go to the bowlers, who hardly bowled a bad ball in the session. Gabriel’s pace and bounce provided the extra edge that gave West Indies the wicket, but otherwise the play went along expected lines.

India packed their side with bowlers, specialists all, and West Indies took the safer route of playing the extra batsman, debutant Roston Chase. India were expected to look for runs, and relatively quick runs, while West Indies were expected to frustrate India. On the field it was going to be a test of execution and endurance for an attack whose third specialist bowler was Jason Holder, listed in some sheets as an allrounder.

The execution was near perfect before lunch. In his first spell of 4-2-6-1, Gabriel roughed up both Shikhar Dhawan — selected ahead of KL Rahul — and Vijay. Dhawan had the worse of exchanges, top-edging Holder before fending hopelessly four times in a row against Gabriel. While Dhawan, considered lucky by some to be playing, enjoyed the luck here, Vijay edged the second bouncer he faced for Kraigg Brathwaite to juggle a catch at second slip. Holder — first spell of 5-2-10-0 — had played his part in making Gabriel effective.

The follow-up act, with India 18 for 1 after eight overs, was going to be just as important. Carlos Brathwaite, with no pretense of going for wickets with magic deliveries, followed up with another disciplined spell of 6-2-6-0 that included 16 straight dots. Chase, who bowls part-time offspin, provided surprise shackles from the other end, bowling ahead of specialist legspinner Devendra Bishoo. He gave the over rate a boost, and by not bowling any bad balls made Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara do all the hard work, especially given the slow outfield.

Gabriel came back for a burst before lunch, but with a softer ball, he didn’t look as threatening in his second spell. Dhawan now began to capitalise. His only indulgence until the 24th over had been a late cut off Chase. In the 24th, he skipped down the track to take an offbreak on the full and drive it straight of mid-on for only the third boundary of the match. Quietly, without drawing too much attention, Dhawan scored 29 off the last 26 balls he faced in the session.

Score Board

India won toss

India 1st innings

M Vijay c K C Brathwaite b Gabriel  7

S Dhawan not out     46

C A Pujara not out    14

Extras (b 4, nb 1)     5

Total (1 wicket; 27 overs)    72

To bat: *V Kohli, A M Rahane, †W P Saha, R Ashwin, A Mishra, I Sharma, M Shami, U T Yadav

Fall: 1-14

Bowling: Gabriel 7-2-18-1 (1nb); Holder 6-2-14-0; C Brathwaite 6-2-6-0; Chase 8-0-30-0

West Indies team

K C Brathwaite, R Chandrika, D M Bravo, M N Samuels, J Blackwood, R L Chase, †S O Dowrich, C R Brathwaite, *J O Holder, D Bishoo, S T Gabriel

Test debut: R L Chase (West Indies)

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and I J Gould (England). TV umpire: G O Brathwaite. Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka)