KOLKATA — India dominated West Indies on the first day of the first Test at the Eden Gardens here Wednesday. After debutant Shami Ahmed (4-71) restricted West Indies to 234 India ended the day on 37 for no loss. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. Sachin Tendulkar fans were left disappointed as they could not watch him bat on the opening day of his penultimate and 199th Test but they had their moments of joy when he trapped the West Indian batsman Shane Shillingford lbw. Shami put in a magnificent display of swing in the afternoon. Starting the afternoon session on a comfortable 107 for two, West Indies lost its way and ended up losing four wickets. Samuels started the session in style as he drove Pragyan Ojha through the covers for four. He then got to his half-century off only 61 balls. However, his dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse. Shami's reverse swing troubled the batsmen. Shami got one to pitch on good length and the ball came back into Samuels, who was locked to his crease and couldn't get the bat down in time. In the next over, Darren Bravo worked Ravichandran Ashwin to the leg-side and ran. Shivnarine Chanderpaul sent him back as Shami collected the ball and threw it to Dhoni to find the batsman short of the crease. Ashwin could have had his wicket as Denesh Ramdin edged his first ball to the slip fielder, but it fell a bit wide and trickled to the boundary. But, Shami was on show at his home ground. Ramdin was dismissed off a delivery similar to the one that got Samuels. Darren Sammy then essayed a few confident shots to get into his rhythm. Chanderpaul too eased in with a few cover-drives off Shami. However, Sammy's attacking instinct got the better of him. From 138 for two, West Indies had slipped to 172 for six. After tea, Veersammy Permaul fell to Ravichandran Ashwin after hitting a few good cover-drives. Once Chanderpaul was dismissed, Shami finished the innings by bowling out Sheldon Cottrell. The Indians started their innings in confident fashion as Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay essayed a few confident strokes to get them going. Cottrell showed he has pace, but wasn't finding his line. Brief scores: West Indies 234 (Marlon Samuels 65; Shami Ahmed 4 for 71, Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 52). India 37 for no loss (Shikhar Dhawan 21 not out, Murali Vijay 15 not out). — Agencies
