India vs West Indies | 1st Test | Antigua | Aug 22-26 2019 | Match thread

[Ankit_sharma03]

In the spotlight

When India were here last, Jason Holder showed promise on every front, but his Test averages - 27.12 and 48.09, the wrong way around - made it plain that he wasn't yet a good enough batsman to command a top-six slot, or a good enough bowler to take the new ball or bowl first-change. Since then, he's transformed himself into one of the world's top allrounders, with the numbers to match. In his last 20 Tests, he has averaged 39.46 with the bat, and 21.38 with the ball, and captaincy has rested so a whole lot easier on his shoulders. If the pitches in this Test series produce low-scoring cricket, Holder could make the same kind of impact against India that Sam Curran did in England last year.

Seventeen wickets at 23.17, two five-wicket hauls, 235 runs at 58.75, two hundreds. R Ashwin had the series of his life when he toured the West Indies in 2016, but he has lately struggled with injury, and has had to miss four of India's last five away Tests. India's other spin options aren't too bad either, and so, incredibly, Ashwin might not be an automatic starter. He's come through plenty of challenges in the past; how will he handle this one?

Team news

What will the Antigua pitch look like? That could well determine whether West Indies play four fast bowlers - in which case they pick Keemo Paul - or three, and hand the offspin-bowling allrounder Rahkeem Cornwall a Test debut.

 

West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Shane Dowrich, 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Rahkeem Cornwall/Keemo Paul, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

On the eve of the match, Virat Kohli said India would take a decision on their bowling attack after having a look at the pitch. "It's more or less a choice between three quicks and a spinner, and two quicks and two spinners," he said, perhaps ruling out the possibility that India could play three quicks and two spinners, and only five specialist batsmen.

 

India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma/Hanuma Vihari, 7 Rishabh Pant (wk), 8 R Ashwin/Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

 

Link - https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19430/preview/1188628/west-indies-vs-india-1st-test-icc-world-test-championship

 

Pitch - 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

 

• Looks like he ll go with 4 bowlers- either 2 spinner 2 pacer or 3-1 combo
• he wants to give Rahul n Mayank full series- lets see if he sticks to it 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

 

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

"On current form, my No. 1 spinner will surely be Kuldeep for the way he takes the ball away from the left-handers and his wicket-taking abilities. Ravindra Jadeja, too, has made most of the chances that he has got in Tests. Probably the only thing working in Ashwin's favour is his superb record against West Indies," Harbhajan told Times of India.

 

But Kuldeep is not in form currently , ashwin has come from county taking bunch of wkts 

[Ankit_sharma03]

 

Sunny G in Dharamsankat 

 

 

[sandeep]

If India can take 3 early wickets in each inning, they will cruise to a reasonably easy win.  I expect Indian openers to wobble too though, which may complicate matters.

 

Jason Holder is going to be a bigger threat with bat than ball I think.  Important to have good plans in place to dislodge him.

[Ankit_sharma03]

My XI

 

1. Mayank
2. Rahul 
3. Pujara
4. Kohli 
5. Rahane
6. Jadeja
7. Pant
8. Ashwin
9. Shami
10. Ishant
11. Bumrah

[express bowling]

4 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

• Looks like he ll go with 4 bowlers- either 2 spinner 2 pacer or 3-1 combo
•  

 

What happened to his 5 bowler strategy ?

[diga]

8 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

What happened to his 5 bowler strategy ?

Aggressive to defensive captain

[express bowling]

If it is s 4 bowler strategy then we should play Vihari as the 2nd spinner and play 3 specialist fast bowlers ...  Bumrah, Shami and Ishant.  Kuldeep would be my preferred specialist spinner. 

[Jimmy Cliff]

17 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

What happened to his 5 bowler strategy ?

Abandoned for Project Rohit.

[kaptaan]

6 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

• Looks like he ll go with 4 bowlers- either 2 spinner 2 pacer or 3-1 combo
• he wants to give Rahul n Mayank full series- lets see if he sticks to it 

 

It looks like Vihari will play ahead of Rohit

[kaptaan]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

What happened to his 5 bowler strategy ?

Rahul and Rahane's form is a concern . That might be the reason they want to go with 6 batsmen.

[cowboysfan]

both teams have some potential for collapses,they look unsettled batting wide and a tough itch will be challenging.

[express bowling]

35 minutes ago, kaptaan said:

Rahul and Rahane's form is a concern . That might be the reason they want to go with 6 batsmen.

 

Why not drop both and replace with Rohit and Vihari. ?

[Ankit_sharma03]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

What happened to his 5 bowler strategy ?

Yup i had the same question, that on wi slow wkts where a slow bowler helps. Against ashwin has a good record with bat so he almost becomes a batsman n jadeja did well with bat in aus n eng so we can play 5 bowlers easily

[diehardpacer]

Rahane is horribly out of form.They messed up by keeping him as VC instead of Pujara.

My Preferred XI:

KLR,Mayank,Chepu,Kohli,Pant,Ashwin/Rohit,Jadeja,Kuldeep,Ishant,Shami,Bumrah

Since Kohli wants only 4 bowlers,then both Rohit & Rahane are likely to play. Vihari's bowling won't be of much use.He will be tested with loads of bouncers. 

Kuldeep can be groomed as all rounder spinner & should be played in all matches.

[express bowling]

20 minutes ago, diehardpacer said:

 

Kuldeep can be groomed as all rounder spinner & should be played in all matches.

 

Agree.

[kaptaan]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

Why not drop both and replace with Rohit and Vihari. ?

Then TM will have to answer why they have  selected Rahana and Rahul in the first place. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by kaptaan

[Vilander]

8 hours ago, sandeep said:

If India can take 3 early wickets in each inning, they will cruise to a reasonably easy win.  I expect Indian openers to wobble too though, which may complicate matters.

 

Jason Holder is going to be a bigger threat with bat than ball I think.  Important to have good plans in place to dislodge him.

Ia shannon gabreiel playing ? That man is fire.