Watch: Rohit Sharma spoke on waiting for debutant Ishan Kishan to score a run before he declared India’s innings closed during the first Test of the two-match series.
R Ashwin (5-60) and Ravindra Jadeja (3-26) bowled out the West Indies after tea on the first day in in the first Test match, at the Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica, after the hosts had opted to bat.
Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (171), captain Rohit Sharma (103), and Virat Kohli (76) then piled on the runs. Ishan Kishan, India’s other debutant walked out at 405-5 after lunch on the third day.
The lead of 255 would have been enough against a jaded West Indian side, out of the field for 145 overs. The ball was turning sharply, bouncing awkwardly, and the Indian attack boasted of Ashwin and Jadeja.
But Rohit decided to bat on, to let Kishan have a go. “I just wanted Ishan to get off the mark, wanted him to get his first runs in Test cricket and then we’d declare,” he explained at the post-match presentation.
Kishan had been energetic behind the stumps, but he took his time his first Test. Rahkeem Cornwall soon turned one across him to beat his outside edge. He could not get a run off Kemar Roach either, and at the other end, Cornwall beat him with a vicious turner again.
By then Rohit had changed into whites, and had been making impatient gestures towards Jadeja and Kishan, to get a move on: “I was just letting them know that we have an over or so and then declaring.”
He called them in immediately after Kishan flicked Alzarri Joseph to get his first run in Test cricket, 20 balls into his innings. By the time the match got over, he saw Kishan’s side: “He played 20 balls without getting off the mark. But I understand, playing first Test can be nerves, he was waiting to bat all day yesterday too.”
All well went in the end. Kishan finished the Test match with that solitary run, but that was a run more than what 43 out of 307 Indians (368 out of 3,136 in the world) had managed on Test debut. Ashwin (7-71) and Jadeja (2-38) then routed the West Indies for 130 in 50.3 overs.
