India defeated the West Indies by an innings and 92 runs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Stand, Antigua to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series on Sunday. It was as comprehensive a performance an Indian cricket fan could have hoped for and most captains wouldn’t change a winning combination. But Virat Kohli is not most captains.
Since taking over the reins of the Indian Test team, Kohli has shown that he is not one to stick to winning combinations just for the sake of going with the flow. Just last year in the Test series against South Africa, we saw the Indian team going with a combination of three spinners and two fast bowlers in the first Test, only for Stuart Binny to replace one of the spinners in the second Test.
In the third and fourth Tests, Kohli played four bowlers, with three spinners and Ishant Sharma fielded at Nagpur and Umesh Yadav replacing Amit Mishra in Delhi.
In addition to that, when asked about the composition of his side at that post-match presentation, the Indian skipper said: “Our initial thought was three spinners, but the amount of grass made us go with three quicks.”
HOW WILL THE CONDITIONS PLAY?
Such a short sample is enough to suggest that Kohli (and coach Anil Kumble) will take a long look at the conditions at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica before making a call on the composition of the final XI.
In the previous Test held at Sabina Park – between West Indies and Australia last year – we saw the quicker bowlers take most of the wickets, with Jerome Taylor and Josh Hazlewood being the pick of the lot. If that is anything to go by, then we can expect the Indian think-tank to go with the same set of bowlers that played in the first Test.
VIJAY’S THUMB AND PUJARA’S FORM A CONCERN
With the bowling combination expected to be similar, don’t expect many changes in the batting order either. There’s an injury concern for the Kohli-led side though, with Murali Vijay suffering a sore thumb after taking a blow from Shannon Gabriel while batting. Vijay did not field, but most reports so far have indicated that it’s not a serious injury.
Update: M Vijay is not on the field as a precautionary measure due to a sore thumb after getting hit while batting. #WIvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 22, 2016
Unlikely as it is, if Vijay’s injury rules him out of the next Test, then one can expect Karantaka opener KL Rahul to replace him at the top of the order. Rahul himself suffered a painful blow on his right knee while fielding at forward short leg during the hosts’ second innings but looks to have recovered quickly.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s form is a bit of a worry for the Indian team. The No. 3 batsman has scored just 218 runs in his last five Tests at an average of 31.14. The team management will definitely be aware of Pujara’s poor run of scores, but his place in the team should be safe for now.
Despite Kohli’s past decisions, unless the pitch is on the drier side one can expect India to go with same team that played in Antigua. If three spinners are played, then expect Ravindra Jadeja to replace Umesh Yadav in the XI.
PREDICTED XI FOR SECOND TEST:
Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
