West Indies might have fallen to a crushing 10-wicket loss in the second Test against India but their skipper Jason Holder can leave the field with his head held high.
The 26-year-old’s absence due to injury was greatly felt by the visitors in the first Test at Rajkot with India running away to their most comprehensive innings victory to date.
Fit again for the second Test, Holder showed what a talismanic figure he can be for a young Caribbean outfit, delivering an an all-round show.
Devoid of any direction in the first Test, the West Indies showed plenty of fight in patches at Hyderabad despite folding inside three days. The spirited showing was spurred on by none other than their captain.
In the first innings when the visitors were collapsing, Holder’s 104-run seventh wicket stand with Roston Chase brought the side back into contention. His half-century coupled with Chase’s ton were responsible for the Windies putting on a respectable total of 311.
In the second innings, Holder’s wickets of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli kept the visitors in the hunt before Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant stitched together an impressive stand. The Windies were looking down and out when India surpassed their first innings total with six wickets still in hand.
However, like he has done several times in the recent past, Holder brought his men right back into the game with an inspirational spell. Removing Rahane and first innings centurion Ravindra Jadeja within the space of three deliveries, the West Indies skipper’s charge led a spirited fight back from the visitors.
Jason Holder's bowling average in 2018 is the best for a fast bowler in a calendar year in the last 100 years! https://t.co/Bozwwg5wXh #INDvWI
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 14, 2018
(Minimum 30 wickets in the year) pic.twitter.com/IkW1K4Qran
He castled Kuldeep Yadav to bring his up third five-wicket haul on the bounce even as his extraordinary 2018 continued. It was the fourth instance in the year that the all-rounder had picked up a five-wicket haul and it is a feat unmatched by any other bowler in 2018.
His 5-56 was also the first five-for by any West Indies bowler on Indian soil since Kenny Benjamin at Mohali in 1994. Holder’s average with the ball in 2018 now reads at an impressive 11.87 with his 33 wickets coming from six matches. It is the best average by any pacer who has picked up a minimum of 30 wickets in the calendar year in the last 100 years.
The squad at his disposal might not be a patch on the great West Indies teams of the past but Holder has tried to inspire them, leading by example ever since he was appointed to the role.
His all-round form has been at the forefront of West Indies’ recent upturn in the Test arena, which has seen them win two and draw one of the last five series before their tour of India.
Holder has been at the forefront of Windies’ recent resurgence.
It is no surprise that Holder is ranked as the fourth-best all-rounder in Test cricket currently and his stock will only continue to rise in the future. While India will rightly walk away with all the plaudits after a fine performance on home soil, they will be secretly hoping that they had a seaming all-rounder of the calibre of Holder in their ranks.
Elite seaming all-rounders are a rarity in Test cricket these days and Holder is one of them now along with England’s Ben Stokes. His fine talent might have been more noticeable if he was a part of a stronger outfit but it is West Indies cricket’s great fortune that they have such an inspirational figure to lead the lines.
