leg-spinner Amit Mishra may not have taken much wickets in the first Test but the leg-spinner says he played his role well by creating pressure on the West Indies batsmen from the one end.
Mishra took two wickets in the first innings and one in the second while off-spinner R Ashwin claimed seven wickets when the hosts followed on as India recorded a massive win by an innings and 92 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
“All we can do is try and bowl well, and that is what I am trying to do. Getting wickets is not in your hands. Sometimes partnerships build up and you have to create pressure from either end.
“So I tried doing that from one end, while the others were picking wickets from the other end, fast bowlers in the first innings and then Ashwin in the second. My role at that time was to keep up the pressure and keep bowling. Hopefully I can take a few more wickets in the next match,” said the Haryana leg spinner, who also scored a half-century in India’s first innings.
“While batting with Ashwin, we added a 100-plus partnership and we could get 550-plus. So that put added pressure on the West Indies. As I said, it was a collective effort and I am very satisfied with what I did in the first Test. At this moment, we have the momentum and everything is going well. We just have to build on it going forward,” he added.
Mishra said the team was on a high after taking lead but they need not take the foot off the pedal.
“We feel highly motivated after that win. It was a collective effort and we did well all around, in batting, bowling, fielding and holding catches, everywhere. But we need to forget all that now and totally concentrate on the next match. For us the effort now is in moving on from that win and yet continuing to do well in the coming match and remainder of the series,” said Mishra.
It was a Test of personal highs for the leg-spinner as well, getting picked ahead of Ravindra Jadeja as the second spinner, then scoring a rare Test half-century and later helping take important wickets of the West Indies’ tail-enders in both innings.
Talking about his role in getting the tail out quickly, he said, “Sometimes you can get the main batsmen out but the tail can wag and play longer. So it becomes tough to get them out because you are concentrating on the main batsmen, and the last 3-4 wickets keep on playing. But we had discussed that in the dressing room, and then it was decided that we would look to bowl wicket-taking deliveries at them so that runs couldn’t be scored easily either.”
“And the best thing is that those plans worked out well. When you play attacking cricket, you try to be aggressive and the mentality changes. We are always trying to take wickets and we talk about that more in the dressing room, and not just containing the batsmen,” Mishra said.
Mishra said that India will look to carry on with their aggressive brand of cricket.
“When you play aggressive cricket, it means as a bowler you are looking for wickets. Aggressive cricket does not mean you go out there on the field and fight or show disrespect. Aggressive cricket means you are looking at ways to pick wickets all the time,” he said.
“Sometimes you can get the main batsmen out but the tail can wag and play longer. So it becomes tough to get them out because you are concentrating on the main batsmen, and the last 3-4 wickets keep on playing.
“But we had discussed that in the dressing room, and then it was decided that we would look to bowl wicket-taking deliveries at them so that runs couldn’t be scored easily either,” Mishra added.
Indians get into Jamaican groove
Indian cricket team hit the nets at Sabina Park on the Wednesday morning, hours after landing here, and followed a rigorous exercise to get used to the hot and humid conditions.
The entire team put in some effort, with different batting and bowling sessions following the regular drill.
Wriddhiman Saha worked on his keeping skills in particular. Murali Vijay seemed happy about his sore thumb whilst flying out of Antigua but he continued to watch his workload with a light workout.
left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan went full hammer and tongs in the nets and took throw-downs on the practice wickets on-ground as well, which seemed to be quite grassy three days before the second Test.
WI call Joseph for 2nd Test
After the drubbing in the first Test, West Indies have added uncapped pacer Alzarri Joseph for the second match against India starting here on Saturday.
Joseph has only played 12 matches at the senior level, including eight first-class matches in which he has taken 24 wickets at an average of 24.45 with two five-wicket hauls.
‘We have to be positive and ruthless’
India’s senior most pacer Ishant Sharma is extremely happy with the performance of the bowling unit and hopes that the team will display “positive and ruthless” intent in the next three Test matches against the West Indies.
The key to success during first Test was bowling short and mixing it with occasional fuller length deliveries.
“West Indies batsmen struggled against short pitched deliveries. We bowled according to a plan. We bowled short and mixed with fuller length deliveries. On a pitch where nothing happens, you need to be consistent. Umesh and Shami bowled well in the first innings and Ashwin and Mishra did well in second innings. I got one wicket in this match but may be in the next it will be my turn to get more wickets,” said Ishant.