Twitter Reactions: West Indies nose ahead courtesy Cornwall seven-fer

The opening day’s play of the first Test mostly belonged to West Indies. It was mostly owing to Rahkeem Cornwall’s seven-wicket haul. At the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, Afghanistan couldn’t quite get the upper hand despite getting quite a few chances. At the end of play of Day 1, Jason Holder and Co are sitting pretty, trailing by 119 runs with as many as eight wickets left in the first innings.

Cornwall runs through

On what seemed like a slow deck, the visitors decided to have a crack at the Afghan batters. Ibrahim Zadran (17) and Javed Ahmadi (39) played 12 overs to see off the new ball. Rahkeem Cornwall drew first blood, getting rid of Ibrahim. But, Ahmadi and Ihsanullah (24) put their heads down for a 56-run stand. Just when the duo was starting to put pressure on the visitors, Ahmadi threw his wicket away.

Jomel Warrican got rid of Ahmadi, who unsuccessfully tried to clear long off. Then the Afghans had a batting collapse as they were reduced from 84/1 to 111/7 in a space of 14 overs. Apart from Ibrahim, Cornwall went on to dismiss Ihsanullah, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan and Nasir Jamal, and picked up his maiden Test fifer. Skipper Jason Holder picked up his opposite number Rashid Khan.

Spinners strike back for Afghanistan  

After the implosion, Afsar Zazai (32) and debutant Amir Hamza (34) tried to restore sanity back into proceedings. They put on 54 runs for the eighth wicket. Cornwall trapped Zazai to separate the duo after which it only took around seven overs to wrap up the Afghan innings. Yamin Ahmadzai (18) smacked three boundaries and a six and the home team was bowled out for 187 in 68.3 overs.

The Afghans struck back with a couple of early wickets. Amir Hamza nipped out Kraigg Brathwaite (11) and then, Rashid sent back Shai Hope. With the score at 34/2 in 11.1 overs, John Campbell (30*) and Shamarh Brooks (19*) made sure that the West Indies don’t suffer any more hiccup by the close of play. Eventually, they stayed unbeaten in a 34-run stand for the third wicket in 10.5 overs.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the first day’s play