Ashwin's seven-for sews up India's innings win

R Ashwin finished with 12 wickets in the match as India beat West Indies by an innings and 141 runs in the first Test at Windsor Park. After debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal's 171 enabled India to declare with a lead of 271, Ashwin picked up 7 for 71 as West Indies folded for 130 on the third evening.

With the pitch offering plenty of turn and bounce for spinners, Rohit Sharma had Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja operating in tandem after the fourth over of West Indies' second innings. The duo didn't take long to make an impact and, using around-the-wicket angle, they ran through West Indies' top order. Ashwin dismissed right-handers Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood and Jadeja accounted for left-handers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Raymon Reifer. That reduced West Indies to 32 for 4 despite Ishan Kishan dropping Brathwaite on zero off Jadeja.

Athanaze and Joshua Da Silva took the side past 50 but their stand was worth only 26 when Mohammed Siraj trapped Da Silva lbw. Athanaze, dropped on 1 by Jaiswal off Ashwin, was trying to stay positive. He had hit a couple of fours in Ashwin's first spell but the offspinner returned to have him caught at short leg with Jaiswal making no mistake on this occasion.

Alzarri Joseph walked in ahead of Rahkeem Cornwall for the second time in the Test, and tried to survive by way of attack. He hit Ashwin over long-off for a six but holed out to deep midwicket when he went for another slog.

For his fifth wicket, Ashwin switched to over the wicket and had Cornwall caught at short leg with a big offbreak. Kemar Roach didn't last long either, and while Jomel Warrican entertained for a brief period, it took Ashwin only a couple of overs after the scheduled hours to have him lbw. Jason Holder resisted for 50 balls but there was little help from the other end.

In the morning, as Jaiswal and Virat Kohli resumed India's innings from 312 for 2, West Indies started with a couple of handicaps. Joseph couldn't open the bowling because he was off the field for 28 minutes before stumps last evening. Cornwall was also not allowed to bowl for two hours as he had gone off the field with a chest infection before lunch on day two.

On a pitch that was slowing down with every passing over, Jaiswal had no trouble driving on the up against seamers. The opener picked up his first boundary of the day with an on-drive off Holder. Three balls later, he became the third Indian after Shikhar Dhawan (187) and Rohit (177) to score 150 or more on Test debut.

Joseph replaced Holder as soon as he was eligible to bowl. By then Jaiswal was looking to score quickly. He uppercut Joseph over backward point for four to bring up the 100-run partnership with Kohli, before skipping down the ground to launch Warrican for a straight six.

Joseph then pulled his length back, bowled five successive dot balls to Jaiswal, and had him caught behind with the sixth as the left-hander looked to punch off the back foot.

Ajinkya Rahane failed to account for the slowness of the pitch and fell for 3, chipping Roach's first ball of the morning to cover.

West Indies had the opportunity to dismiss Kohli in the sixth over of the day, when Warrican got him to push uppishly towards extra cover but Brathwaite dropped the catch. Kohli was on 40 at the time and he had to work hard for his runs. It took him 147 balls to bring up his half-century, his third slowest in Test cricket.

The run-scoring became slightly easier when, around 25 minutes before lunch, Brathwaite deployed Athanaze from one end and himself from the other. Kohli and Jadeja used that window to score a couple of boundaries each and take India to 400.

Just after lunch, Kohli got another reprieve on 72. Driving away from the body, he edged Roach behind the stumps, and Da Silva, despite his one-handed diving effort, couldn't hold on to the chance. Kohli's innings eventually came to an end on 76 when he flicked Cornwall to leg slip.

Like the fellow debutant Jaiswal, Kishan also took a long time to open his account. Jaiswal had got off the mark off the 16th ball; Kishan did so on the 20th. As soon as Kishan scored his first run, Rohit declared the innings.