India have dominated their fledgling opponents Bangladesh in the First Test played at Chennai to take an unassailable lead in Test series. India’s spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja rallied for a 280-run thrashing on the last day of the match. This puts India in good standing of qualifying for the World Test Championship final for the third time in a row.
It was an Indian show from the very beginning and despite some early resistances, Rohit Sharma’s side eventually piled on 497 for 9 declared in the first innings. Ashwin with the bat in the first day of the match and then with the ball in Bangladesh second dig to wrap up victory for India. His all round performance made him deserving of the player of the match and put him in the league of world best spin bowler.
After being compelled to follow on, Bangladesh could not pose much of a threat on the last day of play. There were bundled out for 133 in their second innings and once again, Ashwin proved dangerous on a wicket that had something for all the spinners. Something of a supportive role to Ashwin, Jadeja took three wickets and bowled brilliantly.
The win was particularly sweet for India since it came at the start of their long series of Test cricket. As there are couple of important series coming up, especially with England and Australia, such a dominating show must set the tone for the side. Indian cricket team Captain Rohit Sharma was happy with the performance of all-round cricket and especially highlighted the great performance of the team batsmen and bowlers.
To Bangladesh it was a microcosm of their problem when establishing a team capable of performing well at the test level, especially away from home. Their batting calss failed them against the mighty Indian spinners and they are going to need to pull themselves together if they are to get anything out of the series.
The match also revealed that India has a potential bowling pool of the fast bowlers where Mohammed Siraj and Hazlewood Umesh Yadav were of very useful for the team. This balance in the attack should serve India well in different conditions as their WTC campaign picks up.
In the future, India will want nothing more than to keep this velocity and clinch the series with another active performance in the second Test. In regard to Bangladesh, it will be matters concerning how best to deal with India’s spin prowess and generally, post and futureshowing in the remaining games of the series.
The win has received a lot of applauds from cricket analyst and ex-players and they all have noted that Indian team is splendid in home conditions. Nevertheless, the team will understand that greater challenges are yet to come even when they are playing against sterner tests in away series.
Yet, as the focus shifts towards the next series/the next match, what has happened in this particular Test should act as a sharp reminder to the cricketing world of the raw power that India possesses in the longer form of the game. More so with the upcoming World Test Championship final, each win has greater meaning and India has put themselves in a good stead for the final.