Roston Chase Wins Toss, But Mohammed Siraj And Jasprit Bumrah Control The Ball!

Skipper Roton Chase won the toss in the 48th Test between the West Indies and India in India. With the tall and slenderly built Chase calling correctly the toss-win scores levelled itself with both teams winning 24 each. It’s an interesting trivia, but Chase would be disappointed with his team’s batting display, skittled out for 162, some 16 minutes before tea-time. After a fascinating India-England series in England that ended in a 2-2 stalemate, India’s fast medium bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, accustomed to manipulate the SG Test ball got into the act accounting for seven dismissals — Siraj four and Bumrah three. They sent down 14 overs each and conceded 82 runs together and struck blows to provide their team an opportunity to take control of the first Test. There was much talk about workload management for Bumrah, but he bowled three spells -the breakdown being 6 with the new ball, two starting from the 21st over and six overs starting from the 33rd over. Post the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney early this year, Bumrah has been far from his best, playing only three Tests in the series against England. In such a scenario, Siraj lifted his effort and commitment taking 23 wickets at 32.43. Bumrah pitched in with one scalp in his opening burst of half a dozen overs. Then Siraj produced a lovely off stump line delivery to eject a stoical Chase from the middle after which Bumrah showed his “yorker-length” class and calibre as the visitor folded up in under four and a half hours. With more than 12 sessions remaining, India has given itself a chance to go up in the opening Test.