St. Lucia, Aug 10 : Viewing Alzarri Joseph as one of the country's brightest prospects, West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick believes that debutant paceman will emerge as a force to be reckon with in future.
The 19-year-old paceman, who played a key role in the West Indies victorious Under-19 World Cup campaign in Bangladesh earlier this year, rattled the Indian batting line-up with his pace and bowling mechanics and claimed the prized wicket of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma on the opening day of the third Test at Gros Islet.
"We're happy with his day's work. Obviously, it's his first Test and he got two big wickets for us, and his pace didn't look too bad, Estwick said of Joseph during a press conference.
"As he goes on and he understands Test cricket and he goes from bowling 10 overs in a match to 20 overs, we've got high hopes from him.
He's young at 19 and it's only good for West Indies cricket that we can get some firepower as well to add to (Gabriel) Shannon's firepower as well," added the West Indies bowling coach.
Put in to bat first, the Indian batsmen struggled against the West Indies bowlers, who used the conditions efficiently to leave the tourists reeling at 126 for five in testing conditions at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium.
However, Ashwin, who scored a superb century in Antigua, once again came to rescue as he stitched an unbeaten 108-run partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha (46 not out) for the sixth wicket to help the tourists end the day's play at 234 for five.
While crediting Ashwin and Saha for steadying India's innings, Estwick said West Indies will step out on the field on day two with the intention of restricting the tourists under 300.
"You've got to give credit to Ashwin and Saha, obviously they played well. We had a little bit of bad luck. Ashwin getting out to a no-ball, (and) there were one or two close shaves as well. Credit to them, they batted well and that's what Test cricket is about. It ebbs and flows. We've got to refresh ourselves and comeback tomorrow and try to restrict them to around 300," said Estwick.
West Indies are currently trailing 0-1 in the four-match series despite forcing a spirited draw in the second match in Jamaica.
Meanwhile, India will go to top of the ICC Test rankings if they win the ongoing and the fourth and final match at Port of Spain.
Source: ANI
