Dominica: In dominating fashion, Team India defeated West Indies by an innings and 141 runs in the first Test of the series in Dominica, kicking off the next World Test Championship cycle. As the hosts collapsed for just 130 runs on Day 3, Ravichandran Ashwin emerged as India's top bowler, taking seven wickets in the second Windies innings. In the first session of the day, India previously declared their innings when they were 421/5.
However, there were rumors over the manner in which Rohit Sharma had proclaimed the Indian innings; the captain of India appeared dissatisfied and expressed his annoyance by gesturing in the direction of wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who needed 20 deliveries to begin the innings.
Many believed that Ishan, a naturally aggressive batsman, would have sought to score quickly because India needed to declare the innings.
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Nevertheless, it wasn't until the post-game presentation that Rohit finally spoke about the incident.
The India captain added that he told the batters they only had "an over or so" left before the declaration and that he wanted Ishan to open his account before summoning them back into the hut.
Ishan played 19 deliveries before Rohit, dressed in his whites and ready to go, came out and gestured animatedly for the batter to go quickly.
“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 said.
Ishan immediately scored on the very next pitch after Rohit made the decision, and the India skipper immediately declared the innings complete.
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The 36-year-old praised Ashwin for his game-winning performance and expressed his satisfaction with India's bowling efforts. With a wicket in each of the two innings, the off-spinner took 12 wickets in the contest.
"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," he said.
“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."
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