India played a near perfect Test match in Antigua to register its biggest win outside Asia. Right from calling the toss correctly till removing the last West Indian batsman, India didn’t put a step wrong.
But as much as it’s about India’s dominance in this Test, it’s equally about West Indies’ decline in the longer format, for it was their biggest defeat at home.
From Powerhouse to Participants
The erstwhile powerhouse of International cricket has now become a mere participant in Test cricket. West Indies 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. 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.
Indian Team Checks All the Boxes
Still, it’s unfair to blame the winner for the loser’s lack of quality. Indian team’s preparation was thorough for this tour. The BCCI conducted a camp in India before departing for West Indies. The team reached West Indiaes a couple of weeks before the first Test and played two warm-up games.
Most teams are guilty of starting slowly overseas, for there’s never enough time to acclimatise and prepare for the challenges but that isn’t the case with this Indian team and results are there for everyone to see. Kumble and Kohli had to take a couple of huge calls before this Test match with regards to the playing XI.
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 Dhawan one more time. Team management must be relieved to see Dhawan striking form in the first game itself.
Picking Five Specialist Bowlers Was a Game Changer
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 has been guilty of doing that in the past because Saha hasn’t quite given enough confidence as a batsman at number 6.
To address this issue, India promoted Ashwin to number 6 and this move seemed to have ended this 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 resource that’s available.
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. Till not too long ago, he was pushed further down the order and this move could be seen as Kumble’s first influence.
Ashwin added 7 wickets in final innings to his hundred in the first innings and put him in an elite list of cricketers who scored a hundred and took five wickets in a Test.
2016 is Kohli’s Year
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 itself in a slight spot of bother at 236/4 when 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 where Kohli dig 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 on 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 – first, their strike-rate and second, 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.
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