India seamers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah ripped through the West Indies line-up to capture seven wickets between them and dismiss the tourists for 162 before tea was taken early on day one of the first Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Roston Chase (24), Shai Hope (26) and Justin Greaves (32) all got starts but the hosts soon gained the upper hand to put a big dent in West Indies’ hopes of claiming a first Test victory in India since 1994, when the series was drawn 1-1.
The West Indies were rocked by India’s pace bowlers early after Chase won the toss and opted to bat, with Tagenarine Chanderpaul gloving one from Siraj (4-40) to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel and falling for an 11-ball duck on his return to the side.
John Campbell was then caught behind off Bumrah (3-42) for eight after a review by India, joining his opening partner in the dressing room and leaving West Indies in trouble at 20-2 on a moisture-heavy pitch that assisted the bowlers.
After a good start to his innings, Brandon King (13) paid a heavy price for a poor leave when Siraj got a ball to come back in and crash into the wickets, before Alick Athanaze (12) edged the paceman to KL Rahul at second slip.
Kuldeep Yadav (2-25) marked his selection as India’s third spin bowler alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar by castling Hope at the stroke of lunch to end his fighting stand of 48 with Chase.
Siraj returned after the break to remove the West Indies skipper for 24 with a swinging ball that took the outside edge, before Test debutant Khary Pierre was trapped in front of the wicket by Washington for 11.
Bumrah bowled out Greaves and Johann Layne (1) to bag his 50th wicket at home before Kuldeep marked his first Test start in nearly a year by getting rid of Jomel Warrican for eight to complete the job.
Thrashed 3-0 by Australia on home soil in July, the West Indies are missing injured seamers Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph on their first tour of India in seven years.
India are playing their first test at home under new captain Shubman Gill following the retirements of veterans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.
They are aiming to banish memories of their last home series when they lost 3-0 to New Zealand late last year.
