KOLKATA – Shane Shillingford grabbed four wickets for West Indies but a seventh-wicket stand between Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin kept India well ahead in the first Test match yesterday.
Off-spinner Shillingford grabbed 4-130 from 41 overs, as India slipped to 156 for 6, but Sharma was undefeated on 127 and Ashwin was unbeaten on 92 as the hosts reached 354 for six in their first innings on the second day at Eden Gardens.
India lead by 120 runs with four wickets remaining in the first innings after West Indies were bowled out for 234 in their first innings on the first day.
Shillingford appeared to have brought the Windies back into the Test with his four scalps, as India stumbled to 120 for five at lunch.
Tino Best removed opposing captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni following a sixth-wicket stand of 73 with Sharma after the interval.
However Sharma and Ashwin put together 198 runs to take the game away from the West Indies.
Earlier, five wickets – four to Shillingford including soon-to-be retired batting megastar Sachin Tendulkar – left India reeling on 83 for five.
Shillingford bowled all but one over during the morning period from the High Court End (south), maintaining a tidy line outside off-stump and gaining enough turn to keep the Indian batsmen circumspect.
He made the breakthrough after India resumed from their overnight total of 37 without loss, when left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan played back to a delivery that kept low and was bowled off the inside edge for 23.
Shillingford’s constant pressure got the better of opener Murali Vijay and he was stumped for 26 from a clever piece of bowling, as the batsman moved down to smother the spin, he was deceived by a doosra, leaving India 57 for two.
The Dominican spinner had been dismissed the previous day by Tendulkar and he repaid the favour, when he had the batting kingpin lbw for 10.
Shillingford completed his morning work removing Virat Kohli caught off bat-pad at forward short leg for three, playing defensively forward to a delivery that spun sharply.
West Indies failed to make further headway, when Ashwin joined Sharma and they absorbed the pressure to put Darren Sammy’s men on the back-foot.
“After we got out and I bowled on the first day I assessed the wicket pretty quick in terms of how I would come and bowl next day,” Shillingford said.
“Yesterday and earlier today it was jumping a bit more and as the day progressed it got slower. So it is a wicket you have to do a lot of thinking on how to bowl. With the newer ball the leather is smooth and as the ball wears down it becomes easier to grip. So with the newer ball I told myself not to try too much with it.”
Before coming to India, Shillingford attended the spin clinic conducted by Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner, in Barbados. Although Saqlain taught him the nuances of controlling the doosra, with which he beat two batsmen today, the most important thing Shillingford took away from that camp was to get stronger mentally.
“Working with Saqi made me mentally tougher in terms of self-belief and things like that, which he really emphasized on,” Shillingford said. (CMC)
