5 things India need to do to excel in the Caribbean

Dec 31, 2018 at 2:04 PM

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5 things India need to do to excel in the Caribbean

The stage is all set for India’s young Test brigade to showcase its talent in the Caribbean from the 21st of July. The tour will pose several challenges for the relatively young outfit, led by a world beater and champion batsman Virat Kohli. The Test series against the West Indies will also be Kohli’s first Test series assignment as the skipper outside the subcontinent.

India might have not played too many Tests in the last 18 months, but they can head into the series with a lot of confidence. A rousing series win against Sri Lanka away from home, where Kohli’s boys lifted the series 2-1 after losing the first Test, was just an instance of the sheer resilience shown by the team. The comprehensive 3-0 home series victory over the then number one side South Africa further stamped India’s dominance in world cricket.

Easier said than done, the tour of the Caribbean will be a grueling one. Playing four successive Tests away from home is never an easy task, and especially in a place like the Caribbean, where the crowd support is on the lower end as well. The unpredictable nature of the wickets further poses challenges to India’s fortunes.

To succeed against a moderate West Indies outfit, India will need to consider a few critical aspects.

Below, we analyze those five aspects which the Indians will have to take care of, to make it a memorable campaign in the Caribbean.

  1. Selecting the playing XI according to the conditions:

Well begun is half the battle won, and this will be apt even for this tour. An interesting characteristic about the surfaces in the Caribbean is that they tend to vary massively with every island and ground. For instance, while Antigua will be relatively flat, the surface in Jamaica will have unpredictable bounce and would assist the pacers quite a bit. This will surely be considered by India’s new coach Anil Kumble, who himself has found success in this part of the world. The surfaces in Jamaica and Trinidad will assist the pacers more, so on those venues, Stuart Binny could come into the reckoning with his seam ups instead of a spinner. On wickets that could probably deteriorate too quickly, playing an extra batsman in Rohit Sharma wouldn’t be a bad option either.

2) Openers must provide a solid start:

Vijay, who has easily established himself as one of the most reliable openers in world cricket off late, has embarrassing statistics to his name while opening in the Caribbean. Vijay would be eager to get his average above the sorry mark of 12.0 and he has an ideal opportunity to do so. For the first test, Vijay is likely to be partnered by Shikhar Dhawan, after the southpaw scored a half century in the warm up match. The duo complements each other well, and if India opt for a 6-5 batting-bowling combo, their starts become even more important. Dhawan will have to be patient at all costs and curbing his instincts would be a mandatory process. Even if Dhawan scores at a slow rate initially, owing to his woes outside the off stump, that shouldn’t be an issue as long as he makes up with a big knock.

  1. R. Ashwin must be the trump card:

Billed not as a match winner, but rather as a “series winner” Ashwin has been simply phenomenal so far. With the wickets in the West Indies bound to support his off spin, his threat will simply amplify. In India’s previous two test series assignments, Ashwin was the Man of the Series in both. His on field battle with West Indies’ best batsman Darren Bravo will pretty much dictate the way in which the pendulum swings. Also with the bat, Ashwin can be relied upon to add some priceless runs with the tail.

  1. Onus on Ishant Sharma to lead the bowling attack:

With a jaw dropping 22 wickets in just 3 games in West Indies with a fabulous bowling average of 16.86, it will be Ishant’s duty to lead India’s pace battery. Sharma will be accompanied by Umesh Yadav and one out of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Mohammed Shami in the pace bowling department. The three pacers can make the most out of the conditions as the swing will be in the air during the first session. With experience in his arsenal, the stage is set for Ishant to productively lead India’s pacers by example with his own staggering performances.

  1. Virat Kohli must lead by example:

During India’s previous tour of the Caribbean in 2011, Kohli made his test debut at Jamaica which ironically turned out to be a lukewarm affair. The run machine struggled terribly against short pitched bowling on that tour and returned with disappointing numbers. However, since then, Kohli has easily emerged as the greatest batsman around and currently leads a mighty talented Indian side. If recent form is anything to go by, this series will be a special one for Kohli’s fans. The tour will be a thorough test of Kohli’s character as on overseas assignment, shouldering the responsibility of the side can be a difficult task. The Indian captain must ensure that throughout the series, he leads the side with his own knocks and makes it a memorable outing from the personal front as well with the bat.

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