The Indian cricket team will commence their tour of the West Indies on Wednesday with the first test of the two-match series. Rohit Sharma will be leading the Indian side with his experience while Kraigg Brathwaite will take the captaincy of the Caribbean side.
The Windies are still suffering from the massive shock they endured in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers earlier this month. On the flip side, the Men in Blue will be aiming for a dominant win over the West Indies before they arrive in the Asia Cup. Moreover, a handful of young players on both sides are expected to get a breakthrough in the series as they’ll be making their international debut.
What have they done so far?
The West Indies played their last test series against Temba Bavuma’s South Africa. The two-match series took place in March, earlier this year. In the first match, the Proteas won the toss and they decided to bat first. Moreover, they played really well in the first inning as Aiden Markram scored an incredible ton. However, the Windies’ batting line-up was struggling throughout the match to form a partnership throughout the match.
Trailing by 130 runs in the second inning, Kemar Roach’s bowling helped West Indies end the South African inning at just 116. Chasing a target of 247, Kraigg Brathwaite’s side only managed to accumulate 159 runs, thus, the Proteas won the first match by 87 runs on just the third day. In the second match of the series, West Indies suffered a heavier defeat at the hands of South Africa. In the first inning, Tony de Zorzi and Aiden Markram helped their side reach 320.
Following a decent bowling effort, West Indies managed to score 251 runs. However, the most spectacular inning of the match was witnessed when the South African skipper, Temba Bavuma scored 172 and steered his side to the win. Nevertheless, following another dismal batting failure in the 2nd Inning, the West Indies lost the match by 284 runs.
Taking a look at India, the Men in Blue recently squared off against Pat Cummins’ Australian side. Playing at the Prestigious Oval in England, Rohit Sharma decided to field first after winning the toss. The partnership of Travis Head and Steve Smith helped the Aussies reach a mammoth total of 469 in the first inning.
In addition to that, the Australian bowling line-up also caught the top batting order of India off-guard in the initial few overs. With the help of eminent efforts from Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur, and Ravindra Jadeja, the Men in Blue managed to reach a total of 296.
In the second innings, Australia declared at 270 on a loss of eight. Alex Carey was the protagonist of the Inning as he remained unbeaten until the end and scored 66 runs off 105 deliveries. In order to win, India had to chase the giant-looking target of 444 runs.
Although Shubman Gill lost his wicket early in the match, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli looked promising on the fourth day. However, as the fifth day got underway, Australian bowlers ambushed India in just the first session to redeem their first ICC World Test Championship crown.
Head to Head Record
India and the West Indies share a decorated rivalry. Consequently, the teams have locked horns a total of 98 times in the longest format of cricket. Out of all the matches, 46 of them have ended as a draw while the Windies have won 30 fixtures and the Men In Blue has managed to triumph on 22 occasions.
Consequently, the two sides will be facing each other for the first time since August 2019. Talking about their last four matches, India has emerged victorious on all occasions. Moreover, all the victories have been massively one-sided in favor of the subcontinent.
The last test series between the two sides was played in August 2019 and coincidentally, it was also a two-match series. In the first match, India defeated the West Indies by 318 runs following brilliant performances from Ishant Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane.
Consequently, in the second match, playing under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Hanuma Vihari scored a ton in the first inning and a half-century in the second inning to lead his side toward a whopping 257-run win over the Caribbean representatives in the second test. Thus, as they’ll locked horns at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium Dominica, Rohit Sharma’s men will have a mental advantage.
Key Players
The West Indies cricket has been going through a really tough time currently
Tagenarine Chanderpaul (West Indies): The Windies have come forward in the test series against India with a different team. Kraigg Brathwaite will be leading the Caribbean side against Rohit Sharma’s Men in Blue.
Brathwaite is also a great batsman when it comes to shielding the guard in the longest format of cricket because he’s still extremely fond of the actual test-playing approach that was used in the 90s.
In addition to that, Tagenarine Chanderpaul can play the perfect role as the right-hand man of the skipper. The left-hand batter has rescued the demolishing West Indies side a number of times with his steady and reliable batting. Consequently, he’ll be expected to show the same temperament against India on home soil.
Virat Kohli (India): Virat Kohli displayed brilliant form in the Indian Premier League and fans expected him to perform with a similar momentum in the World Test Championship Final.
However, that didn’t happen as the Men in Blue suffered a saddening loss against Australia. Nevertheless, the former Indian captain will have a great chance to get back into form before the Asia Cup and ICC World Cup.
Virat Kohli has always loved playing on the Caribbean grounds. Moreover, during 2018-19, the Men in Blue defeated the West Indies menacingly in the last two test series under his captaincy. Thus, other than batting, the 34-year-old will play a much greater role in the playing XI of India against The Windies.
Predicted XIs
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite ©, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
India: Rohit Sharma ©, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini
Prediction
The Indian team looks stronger than Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies on paper. In addition to that, Rohit Sharma’s side acquires a great combination of young and experienced players, which can emerge as the prominent reason behind their victory.
However, exceptions are always present in the game of cricket but the West Indies seem unlikely to triumph against India at this juncture.