India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of West Indies' Alick Athanaze on the first day of the first Test cricket match between India and West Indies at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)Day One of their home season began on a resounding note for India. On what was a muggy day in Ahmedabad with a 22-minute rain-break in the third session, despite losing the toss, India showed all the good signs of their old self. Setting the tone straightaway were their pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah who restricted the spinners to a supporting role before KL Rahul brought assuredness to their batting. If they breathed fire with the ball, they looked solid with the bat. All of it meant, West Indies, as expected, struggled to put any sort of fight, combusting under sustained pressure to fold for 162 under two sessions. At stumps, India were only 41-runs behind after losing Yashavi Jaiswal and B Sai Sudharsan.
For a team that is still reeling under the shock defeat to New Zealand a year back, India were not willing to take chances against an opponent that is ranked eighth in the table. Even though the West Indies are thin on experience, India didn’t compromise on one aspect – adding depth to batting and bowling. It has been the case since Gautam Gambhir took charge as coach and the pitch in Ahmedabad provided more reasons for him to field as many as three all-rounders. With a fair bit of grass on it, the pitch offered movement and good carry throughout the day for the seamers before the odd deliveries from the spinners began to spit and turn towards the end of the day. Maybe this is what prompted West Indies to expose themselves against two raging pacers Bumrah and Siraj. And more than the former, whom the Caribbean great Andy Roberts had told this newspaper that they would have preferred him to be part of their pace quartet, it was Siraj who was the unplayable one.
Having thrived in recent months, in particular in the absence of Bumrah, Siraj has come across a different seamer, one with the capability to move the ball both ways. Unfortunately for the Windies, Siraj found his rhythm soon. In the two months he spent at his home town Hyderabad, one of Siraj’s favourite pastime was to make a drive to Eidgah Maidan in the Old city, park his swanky car and have the Irani Chai from the mobile chaiwala. It is a place where he is able to reconnect with himself, and the same can be said when he takes up the red cherry as well. With a cross-seam delivery – which he delivers when none of his other tricks aren’t working for him – he can conjure moments of brilliance out of nowhere. It is that scrambled seam that undone Brandon King and later on Roston Chase before he struggled hard to get the fifth that never arrived.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah, left, and Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of West Indies’ Johann Layne on the first day of the first Test cricket match between India and West Indies at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
“When my in-swing stopped. I automatically started getting an out-swing. Then, I realised that this uses wobble seam kehte hain. I kept putting it in practice. I have just heard the name wobble seam,” he said at the end of the day. “I get wickets by working hard. I got wickets by working hard in England as well. Here also, I worked hard. No one gave me a free wicket, mujhe 5th wicket pe koi nahi diya.”
With Bumrah, it was a different sort of a day. Like Siraj, he sent down 14 overs, but appeared far from his lethal best, but the X-factor bowler he is, produced two special deliveries towards the end of West Indies innings. All-rounder Justin Greaves, who looked the part during his 48-ball stay where he top-scored with 32, had no answer to a screeching yorker from Bumrah that took the off-stump with it. Ollie Pope would definitely sympathise with Greaves. And to Johann Layne, he dished out another full delivery that came back in sharply to dismantle the off and middle stump.
The performance of the two quicks meant the spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav had little to do. When the seamers were struggling to control their line, Washington and Kuldeep were warming up as early as the second over, as if to send a reminder to skipper Shubman Gill. He eventually turned to them, but in total they delivered 12.1 overs between them for two wickets.
India’s captain Shubman Gill, left, and KL Rahul walks off the field after the end of play of the first day of the first Test cricket match between India and West Indies at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Once the bowlers did the job, Jaiswal and Rahul came up with the intent to bat long and big. With dark clouds setting in, they had to bat under the lights, which offered more movement for the pacer as Jaiswal started on a watchful note. With Rahul solid as ever, West Indies pacers couldn’t make any early inroads as the left-right duo picked boundaries at ease. Rahul, the senior partner, was measured in his leaves and defence, while being at his punishing best whenever the opportunity presented itself. Perhaps, it is the ease with which Rahul scored the late-cuts that prompted Jaiswal to go for one, but the ball was too close to cut and he feathered it to wicketkeeper. Sai Sudharsan, given the chance at No 3 to own the spot, did little favours to himself, going for an expansive hoick of Chase and was trapped in front by a straighter one.
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