India started their WTC 2023-25 cycle with a victory against West Indies by an innings and 141 runs. The Indian cricket team is scheduled to tour West Indies to play 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 5 T20I games between July 12 to August 13.
Rohit on 1st Test Victory Against WI
The 2 Tests of the India tour of West Indies 2023 will be a part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship. Following their second consecutive WTC final defeat, the Indian cricket team faced many backlashes from cricket experts and fans.
Indian cricket team were under pressure to kickstart their new WTC cycle with a victory. Despite the previous head-to-head stats where West Indies have the upper hand against India, the visitors won the first test and leads the 2-match test series.
Following India’s outstanding performance in the 1st Test, skipper Rohit Sharma praised Indian bowlers.
“Every run you score for the country is important. I would like to start by saying it was a great effort with the ball. Getting them out for 150 set the game for us. We knew batting would get tough, it wasn’t easy to score runs. We knew we wanted to bat only once and bat long. Get over 400 runs and then we came out and bowled really well”.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma went praise Jaiswal who scored his first international Test century in his maiden appearance.
“He has the talent, he has shown us in the past that he is ready. Came and batted sensibly. The temperament was also tested, at no stage he was panicking. The chats we had were to remind him that ‘you belong here. You have done the hard yards, enjoy your time here”.
Rohit Sharma explains the reason for declaring at 421 runs and says he wants Ishan Kishan to get off the mark.
” I was just letting them know we have an over or so before declaring. I wanted Ishan to get off the mark, wanted to tell him to get his personal mark and then we had to declare. I could see that he was always eager to bat, it could be frustrating for them”.
Rohit Sharma praised Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin for their outstanding performance in the 1st test which bagged India’s first victory in the 1st test of India tour of West Indies 2023.
In the 1st test against WI, Ashwin bagged 12 wickets and Jadeja bagged 8 wickets across 2 innings.
“The results speak for themselves, they have been doing it for a while. There isn’t much to tell them, it is about giving them the freedom to express. The experience these guys have on pitches like this is always a luxury. Both Ash and Jadeja were superb, specially Ashwin for coming out and bowling this way was class. Always nice to start well, it is a fresh cycle”.
“We weren’t too worried about the pitch, we wanted to come here and get results. Important to start well, now about taking that momentum into the 2nd Test. There are a couple of new guys and people who haven’t had much Test cricket, so just about getting them out on the field now”, Rohit added.
Though India lost the toss and was forced to bowl first, the visitors made a good impression with the ball. Indian lead spinners Jadeja and Ashwin bagged a total of 8 wickets where Ashwin created numerous records with his 34th 5 wickets haul including entering into the 700 wickets club.
West Indies scored 150 runs in their first inning while the visitors declared the game while scoring 421 runs for 5 wickets loss. Indian openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma made a 229 runs partnership and broke a 2-decade record and laid a strong foundation for the Indian cricket team.
While everyone expected a third century of the game from Virat Kohli, R Cornwall dismissed the Indian star for 76 runs. With Jadeja’s 37 India moved beyond the 400 runs mark and scored 421 runs before declaring.
In their 2nd inning, West Indies again failed to impress with the bat and ended their inning while scoring 130 runs. In the second inning, Ashwin bagged 7 wickets while Jadeja bagged 2 wickets and paved the way for India’s victory in the 1st Test game.
The 2nd and final test of the India tour of West Indies 2023 will be played between July 20 to 24 in Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
