Wounded West Indies eye fightback in a hundredth Test towards India
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It’s a historic event. The second Test between West Indies and India, in Port-of-Spain, would be the a hundredth Test between the 2 groups. Of the 99 played so far, West Indies have received 30 and India 23, whereas 46 have been attracts.
In the final 21 years, nevertheless, West Indies haven’t managed a single win towards India. Their earlier victory came in 2002, when Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Player of the Match in the first Test of the present sequence, was not even 5 months outdated.
Since then, the 2 sides have met 24 times, with India profitable on 15 events and drawing on the opposite 9. Given how the primary Test went – India profitable by an innings and 141 runs – West Indies should put in a severe effort to finish that streak.
Having stated that, this could possibly be considered one of their higher probabilities to take action. The pitch on the Queen’s Park Oval has been, historically, conducive to quick bowling, and West Indies have a much more skilled seam-bowling assault on this sequence.
Neither West Indies nor India play one other Test for the following 5 months at the very least. So each groups shall be seeking to take advantage of this chance, other than pocketing some World Test Championship factors. West Indies shall be seeking to obtain some stability with the bat, and India will hope that Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan spend a substantial time within the center.
Form information
West Indies LLLWD (final 5 Tests, most up-to-date first)
India WLDLW
In the highlight
The world first took discover of Alick Athanaze when he topped the runs chart on the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Last month, towards UAE, he smashed the joint-fastest fifty by a batter on ODI debut. Then on his Test debut final week, towards R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and a turning monitor, he confirmed he had the temperament for the lengthy format as effectively. With wickets tumbling on the different finish, he top-scored for West Indies in every innings with knocks of 47 and 28. West Indies will need him to construct on that begin.
At the identical U-19 World Cup the place Athanaze was the main run-scorer, Shubman Gill was second on the checklist, and was named the Player of the Tournament. While it took Athanaze 5 years to make his worldwide debut, Gill is already seen because the inheritor obvious to Virat Kohli. In the primary Test, by asking to be moved right down to No. 3, he took one other step in that course – specialists consider the center order is his pure dwelling. But a failure in India’s solely innings in Dominica meant he now averages 31.96 after 17 Tests. The good factor is he has on a regular basis on the earth and the backing of the group administration.
Team news
With Raymon Reifer out of the squad, left-hand batter Kirk McKenzie could possibly be in line for a debut. West Indies may be tempted to usher in Shannon Gabriel for both Jomel Warrican or Rahkeem Cornwall. Meanwhile, uncapped offspin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair shall be on standby as a like-for-like substitute for Cornwall in case the latter is but to completely recuperate from his chest an infection.
West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Alick Athanaze, 4 Jermaine Blackwood, 5 Kirk McKenzie, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Rahkeem Cornwall/Kevin Sinclair, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel/Jomel Warrican
Two days out from the Test, India captain Rohit Sharma stated he was not seeking to make “any drastic changes”. He additionally backed Ishan Kishan, saying he was “very impressed” with the wicketkeeper’s glovework. So it is not going to be a shock if India discipline an unchanged XI.
India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Ishan Kishan (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Pitch and situations
While the Queen’s Park Oval has not hosted a Test since 2018, quick bowlers have at all times enjoyed the conditions here, registering a significantly better common (27.39) and strike fee (61.0) as compared to spinners (36.57 and 88.7). Rain is forecast on all 5 days of the Test, although.