'A serious star': Harsha Bhogle lauds Jason Holder for his six-wicket haul against Eng

Harsha Bhogle has come forward and lauded the West Indian Test skipper as well as the top-ranked all-rounder Jason Holder for having led the visitors from the front in the ongoing first Test match at the Ageas Rose Bowl in Southampton. The tall pacer has taken six wickets in the first innings of the opening Test match that is currently being played behind closed doors. He finished with figures of 6/42 at an economy rate of 2.10 that included six maidens.

'A serious star': Harsha Bhogle

Taking to the micro-blogging site, the 'Voice of Indian Cricket' mentioned that the young all-rounder is not talked about a lot as he is low-key and dignified. The veteran commentator then added that the Windies speedster is a serious star in the game's longest format and is quietly lifting this West Indies team.

England Vs West Indies: 1st Test 2020

The cricketing action finally got underway after a long gap of 117 runs by the virtue of this bilateral series.  Stand-in English captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts did lose the wicket of Dom Sibley early on but rain played a spoilsport on Day 1 (Wednesday). When the play resumed on Day 2 the Windies bowlers wreaked havoc as the hosts lost half their side for just 87 runs on the board.

Nonetheless, skipper Stokes (43)  and wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler (35) added 66 runs for the sixth-wicket stand before the duo was dismissed in quick successions. With the hosts reeling at 157/7, lower middle-order Dom Bess scored an important unbeaten 31. However, he did not get any support from the tail-enders as the hosts were bundled out for 204 in the 68th over. 

West Indians will now be hoping to put up a stellar performance with the bat and put the Ben Stokes-led side under pressure as both sides will be eager to draw the first blood in this three-match Test series. The game of cricket finally got underway with this Test match after a long wait of 117 runs due to the ongoing global pandemic. 

READ: Harsha Bhogle Admits Eng-WI Test 'not As Jarring As Feared' Despite Absence Of Spectators