'You are a star' - Ravi Ashwin hails double centurion Jason Holder

The Windies might be ranked five notches down than England as per the ICC, but they made a mockery of the ranking in the ongoing first Test in Bridgetown and look favourites to go 1-0 up in the three-game series. For the visitors who have played superior cricket over the past few months and beaten teams like India and Sri Lanka, it was a complete shocker.

The Three Lions were shot out for a paltry 77 in reply to the Caribbeans’ first innings total of 289 after home team captain Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bat. Pacer Kemar Roach ran through the England batting order, claiming five wickets for 17 runs as Joe Root’s team was bundled for their fourth lowest total against the Windies in Tests.

For the supporters of the Windies, seeing a bowling performance that reminisced the golden days of their terrorising fast bowling was an absolute delight. England, on the other hand, faced criticism for their batting performance.

Ravichandran Ashwin calls double centurion Holder a star

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also came up with praises for the Caribbeans on Twitter and especially Holder who slammed his first double hundred in Tests in the second innings. Ashwin, who was a member of India’s historic Test series-winning team in Australia, called his former colleague in IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings as a “star”.

Here’s Ashwin’s tweet

What a test match in the carribean, well played @Jaseholder98. You are a star 🤩#WIvsENG

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) January 26, 2019

The Windies declared their innings on 415 for 6 after an unbeaten 295-run partnership between Holder (202 not out off 229 balls) and wicket-keeper-batsman Shane Dowrich (116 not out off 224 balls) to give England a target of 628 runs. The visitors were 56 for no loss at stumps on Day 3, requiring another 572 runs with two days remaining.

The 27-year-old Holder, who led the Windies recently on tours of India and Bangladesh to lose badly, hit his maiden double hundred in any form in this game. The Barbados all-rounder has scored over 1,500 runs and took 86 wickets in the longer format till the Bridgetown Test.

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