India played a near perfect Test match in Antigua to register their biggest win outside Asia. Right from calling the toss correctly until removing the last West Indian batsman, India didn’t put a step wrong. But as much as it’s about the tourists’ dominance in this Test, it’s equally about West Indies’ decline in the longer format, for it was their biggest defeat at home.
The erstwhile powerhouse of International cricket has now become a mere participant in the game’s oldest format. The Caribbean side has already failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy (to be held in 2017) and if there were a Test Championship, they wouldn’t qualify for that too. The advent of T20 threatened to create T20 specialist teams and while the rest have managed to strike the right balance thus far, West Indies have become the first team to master the shortest format albeit at the cost of the other two formats of the game.
Still, it’s unfair to blame the winner for the loser’s lack of quality. The Indian team’s preparation was thorough for this tour as the BCCI conducted a camp at home before reaching the West Indies a couple of weeks before the first Test where they played two warm-up games.
Most teams are guilty of starting slowly overseas, for there’s never enough time to acclimatize and prepare for the challenges but that isn’t the case with this Indian team and the results are there for everyone to see. Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli had to take a couple of huge calls before this Test match with regards to the playing XI.
Congrats to @imVkohli led #TeamIndia on a wonderful win. Great performance @ashwinravi99 &wonderful debut for @anilkumble1074. Keep it up!
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 25, 2016
KL Rahul made a strong case for himself by scoring runs in both the warm-up games and it must have taken a leap of faith to stick with Shikhar Dhawan one more time. Team management must be relieved to see the 30-year-old striking form in the first game itself. Also, the decision to go in with four or five specialist bowlers, for the tendency is to err on the side of caution for the first game.
It was heartening to see that India not just continued with its five-bowler theory but also, resisted the temptation of picking the fifth bowler for his batting abilities. India have been guilty of doing that in the past because Wriddhiman Saha hasn’t quite given enough confidence as a batsman at number six. To address this issue, India promoted Ravichandran Ashwin to number six and this move has seemed to have ended the debate for the time being. Ashwin’s third Test century further reiterated the fact that instead of looking for an all-rounder outside, it’s worth investing in the resources that are available internally.
Ashwin not only shared a long stand with Kohli but also, batted, as he normally does – like a proper batsman. He isn’t a bowler who can bat a bit, for both his technique and temperament are of a top quality Test batsman. He was pushed down the order not that long ago but pushing him up reflects Kumble’s influence on the side. Ashwin added seven wickets in the final innings to his hundred in the first innings to put him into an elite band of cricketers who have scored a hundred and took five wickets in a Test.
'I think like a batsman while setting field for my bowlers'- #TeamIndia skipper @imVkohli #WIvINDhttps://t.co/H2yNYGxOof
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 25, 2016
The other and rather painful side of playing five bowlers is that you are left with only five proper batsmen, which means that you can’t afford even a mini collapse. India did find themselves in a slight spot of bother at 236/4 when Ajinkya Rahane got out for 22. The situation isn’t alarming if there were an extra batsman available but if you have only five batsmen, the tail starts as soon as you lose the 4th wicket. That’s when Kohli digged in his heels further and notched up his first double century.
2016 is the year of Virat Kohli, for formats and venues have changed not his form. His focus is not just on scoring runs but taking his team to a position of strength, and Antigua was no different. It’s almost certain that Kohli will be scoring more double centuries, for there are only two things that stop players from doing so in Tests – one, their strike-rate and two, their fitness. Kohli has no issues on both these counts and therefore it’s fair to assume that the wait for the second double-century won’t be as long as the first one.
