Stung by a remarkable fightback from West Indies on the final day of the rain-hit second Test, India will have to look at their bowling combinations and get back to its winning ways when the third cricket Test begins on Tuesday at Saint Lucia.
Riding on rookie batsman Roston Chase’s resolute 137 off 269 balls, West Indies held on with a fighting draw in the rain-affected second Test in Jamaica.
But the visitors still hold a 1-0 lead in the four-match series after winning the first Test in Antigua by an innings and 92 runs and would look to seal the series when they take the field at the Darren Sammy Stadium at Saint Lucia.
Only four Tests have been played at this ground since the inaugural Test in 2003. India have experienced the playing conditions previously on the 2006 tour, and that game ended in a draw. In fact, three of the four Tests have ended without a result, with West Indies beating Bangladesh by 296 runs in 2014.
Ahead of the third test match, the only matter worth pondering over is the fitness of Murali Vijay. And while the Tamil Nadu opener is slowly regaining full fitness, he didn’t bat against the pacers in the nets on Sunday. He faced slow throw-downs and batted against the spinners mostly, that too in tandem with Cheteshwar Pujara.
That left KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan to work on their pairing as Ishant and Mohammed Shami used new balls in the nets against the opening duo. Perhaps the biggest indicator of Vijay’s unavailability was the fact that he was absent from slip catching, whilst Dhawan, Kohli and Rahul worked with the fielding coach Abhay Sharma. In parallel, there is no indecisiveness on the part of the hosts West Indies with regard to their opening combination.
Shai Hope is expected to make his Test comeback, after the selectors left out Rajendra Chandrika. The former scored an unbeaten hundred against the visitors in their first tour game in St.Kitts, and skipper Jason Holder will want him to replicate the same in the third test match.
A weak top-order is severely ailing the West Indies after they looked to make progress with both their lower-order partnerships and bowling in the second Test. Given the still-existing gulf in quality and experience between the two sides, snatching that fighting draw at Sabina Park was a huge morale booster for them.
The question is whether they can maintain this momentum, replicate that form, and once again prevent India from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead.
India: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd.Shami, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.
West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Leon Johnson, Shane Dowrich (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite, Shannon Gabriel, Miguel Cummins, Alzarri Joseph.
Match starts at: 7.30 pm IST.
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