My role was to create pressure and I did well, says Mishra

Kingston, July 28 

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra may not have taken many wickets in the first Test but the leg-spinner said he played his role well by creating pressure on the West Indies batsmen from one end.

Mishra took two wickets in the first innings and one in the second, while off-spinner R Ashwin claimed seven wickets. “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,” Mishra said.

“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.” 

The Haryana leg spinner also scored a half-century in India’s first innings.

“I had a 100-plus partnership with Ashwin and we could get to 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.

We have to be positive and ruthless: Ishant 

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. “We have to be ruthless and play positive cricket. The rest we have to assess as to how the game progresses and plan according to situation,” Sharma said.

“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.” — PTI