In the essence of beaten comprehensively in England, India will once again seek home comfort in Rajkot and get back to winning against West Indies in the upcoming two-test series.
India took nearly two and a half decades to register their first Test win against Windies in 1971 as they beat the latter 5 times. However, there also came another period where the Windies dominated as India failed to beat them for close to 10 years (1979-1988). But in the last 16 years, India has played Windies in 19 Test matches and won 10 of them. Meanwhile, Windies have faced 4 innings defeats against India in this decade (since 2010).
Windies’ pace attack
West Indies have produced some of the finest pacers of all time. The West Indian pace attack has once again become an integral part of the debates. In the recently concluded home season (where West Indies played 5 Tests – 2 against Bangladesh and 3 against Sri Lanka), the pacers accounted for 84 wickets (out of 96). Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder have consistently troubled the opposition and took 72 out of the 84 wickets in total (Gabriel – 28, Holder – 28, Roach – 16).
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli to lead India for two-match Test series against Windies
New openers to express themselves
After their poor opening in England, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay have failed miserably. On the back of some excellent and consistent domestic and India ‘A’ performances, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw have been called up.
However, Prithvi Shaw who was India’s back up the opener for the last two Tests in England has been given the debut ahead of Agarwal.
Shaw has been earmarked for great things ever since he was a prodigious run-maker in the Mumbai maidans. He captained India in the Under-19 World Cup and began his first-career with a hundred in the fourth innings of the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy last year. He has played only 14 first-class games, but that has been enough for the selectors to recognise he is ready for Test cricket. He has scored 1418 runs at an average of 56.72. And he has done so in a dominant fashion, going at a strike rate of 76.69.
Young @PrithviShaw is all set to make his Test debut tomorrow at Rajkot. How well does he time the ball? 🔥🔥👏👌 #TeamIndia #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/5LLvl7GKkQ
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2018
India’s tour to Australia
In a press conference, India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said, “We will not take the Windies side lightly. We would like to focus on our positives and improve our performance. As a team, it is important to see how we can improve our game.” This straightaway means India’s one eye is on the Australian tour in late November where they will play 3 T20Is first before playing the 4-match Test series and finally concluding with 3 ODIs. Hence, lots of questions have to be answered in this 2-match series for the team and management.
Indian team: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, C Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), H Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, M Shami, Umesh Yadav, M Siraj, Shardul Thakur
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 29, 2018