Debutant Shami helps India bowl Windies out for 234

KOLKATA: Debutant pace bowler Mohammad Shami returned impressive figures of four for 71 as India bowled out the West Indies for a paltry 234 after they opted to bat at the Eden Gardens on the opening day of the first Test.

At stumps, India were comfortably placed at 37 for no loss with the two openers, Shikhar Dhawan (21) and Murali Vijay (16), at the crease. They trailed the West Indies by 197 runs with all their wickets intact.

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy's decision to bat may have prevented the crowd from watching Tendulkar bat on the first day itself, but the 40-year-old retiring legend did his bit with the bowl picking up a wicket in his first over itself, taking his Test wicket tally to 46.

While Tendulkar was undoubtedly the cynosure of all eyes, Shami grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he rocked the West Indies middle-order with a hostile spell that included quite a few reverse-swinging deliveries.

The 23-year-old Shami's wickets included Kieran Powell, top-scorer Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin and Sheldon Cottrell.

Samuels scored 65 off 98 balls with the help of 11 fours and two sixes.

Playing his first Test at his home ground, Shami was impressive from the first over as he troubled both the openers.

Dhoni gave the last over before tea to Tendulkar, bringing the crowd on its feet. It turned out be a masterstroke by the 'Captain Cool'.

After bowling three deliveries, the maestro unleashed a flipper and Shillingford had no answer.