India secured its biggest Test match victory in terms of margin by defeating West Indies by an innings and 272 runs on just the third day of the Rajkot match on Saturday. The icing on the cake was Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav claiming his maiden five wicket haul.
After being shot out for 181 runs before lunch and made to follow on, the West Indies second innings was a virtual replay of the first in terms of overs batted and run rate. In the second innings, the West Indies made 196 runs in 50 overs, just two overs more than their first innings. And like the first innings, seven West Indies batsmen got into double figures, but only one scored more than 20 runs.
Opener Kieran Powell top-scored with an aggressive 83 of 93 balls with four sixes, but he had no assistance from the other batsmen. The highest partnership in the West Indies second innings was just 47 runs for the second wicket.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja completed what turned out to be a dream Test match in his home state by grabbing three wickets for 35 runs in the second innings to go with his wicket and run-out in the first innings and his maiden century in India's innings of 649 for 9. However, the man of the match award went to debutante Prithvi Shaw who scored 134 runs.
The second match of the two Test series starts in Hyderabad from October 12.
Till the Rajkot match, India's biggest Test victory was against Afghanistan, which it beat by an innings and 262 runs at Bengaluru in June this year.
