“The way he wrapped up the innings shows how important he is for the Indian team" - Pragyan Ojha lauds Ashwin's 5-wicket haul 

Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha was all praise for Ravichandran Ashwin following his performance on Day 1 of the first Test against the West Indies on Wednesday.

Ashwin claimed his 33rd five-wicket haul in Test cricket as he finished with figures of 24.3-6-60-5, helping India bundle out the hosts for a paltry 150 in the first innings. The veteran off-spinner was introduced into the attack as early as the sixth over and he made an instant impression.

Ashwin dismissed Tagenarine Chanderpaul with a sensational delivery and claimed the crucial scalp of skipper Kraigg Brathwaite soon after. He then removed debutant and top scorer Alick Athanaze and wiped up the tail to claim the fifer.

Pragyan Ojha stated that the West Indies batters had no clue about Ashwin's subtle variations.

“He has got four hundreds against them. He made his debut against them, picking wickets and has done wonderfully well. The way he set up the batters was brilliant. He was varying his pace and the West Indies batters did not have answers to the questions that were thrown by Ashwin to them. The way he wrapped up the innings shows how important he is for the Indian team," he said on Jio Cinema.

With the most recent performance, Ashwin maintained his formidable record against the Windies in Test cricket, claiming 65 wickets in 12 Tests at an average of 21.09.

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"Ashwin has always been special with the ball" - Pragyan Ojha

Ravichandran Ashwin also became only the third Indian bowler after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to reach the 700-wicket mark in International cricket.

He was left out of India's playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia last month and was seen playing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) before arriving in the Caribbean.

Pragyan Ojha opined that Ashwin is a candidate that always delivers for the team.

“If you see all the champion players, they cross that hurdle and make sure that they always deliver when the team needs them. Ashwin has always been special with the ball and he continues to do that," Ojha said.

Team India have started well with the bat on Day 1 after bowling out West Indies in just 64 overs. Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal has been solid for his unbeaten 40 while skipper Rohit Sharma has chipped in with 30 runs as the score reads 80-0 at Stumps.