India pacer Mohammed Siraj has just continued his excellent bowling in the first Test against the West Indies, from where he left in England. He finished the five-match Test series in the UK with a match-winning five-wicket haul and has delivered his best spell first up at the Narendra Modi Stadium, accounting for three wickets with the new ball.
After losing the toss, India needed early wickets and Siraj didn't disappoint. It did take some time for him to get his lines and lengths correct and then was almost unplayable. Siraj strangled Tagenarine Chanderpaul down the leg side first and then he corrected his lengths to leave the Caribbean side reeling.
At the other end, Jasprit Bumrah also bowled well to support him as he also sent back John Campbell. At 20/2, the visitors needed a partnership and for a while, it also seemed that Alick Athanaze and Brandon King got the better of the conditions before the latter horribly left a delivery that pitched on off-stump and shattered his stumps.
It was baffling to see King leave the ball as Siraj nipped one back considerably to take his middle stump for a walk. In the very next over his spell, Siraj was once again at work, sending back Athanaze who had looked the best batter for West Indies until then. The left-hander went for an expansive cover drive only to edge the red cherry to the second slip where KL Rahul didn't make any mistake.
Kuldeep Yadav returns for India almost after a year
Meanwhile, India finally picked Kuldeep Yadav in their playing XI after ignoring him for the entire Test series against England. The wrist spinner made a comeback for the first time since featuring in the first Test against New Zealand in the previous home season. Nitish Reddy also got a go with the pitch assisting seamers as the all-rounder returned fully fit after getting injured during the UK tour. As for the West Indies, they handed debuts to Khary Pierre and Johann Layne in the first Test.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
West Indies: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, John Campbell, Alick Athanaze, Brandon King, Shai Hope (wk), Roston Chase (c), Justin Greaves, Jomel Warrican, Khary Pierre, Johann Layne, Jayden Seales
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