Barely has the excitement and drama of the T20 Asia Cup settled down when another international assignment is upon India. Up next for them, at the start of their international home season, is a two-Test showdown against West Indies, beginning at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.
India haven’t played a five-day game at home since the first week of November, when they were soundly beaten by Tom Latham’s New Zealand in Mumbai for the third time in as many Tests in an upset of seismic proportions. Many might believe West Indies won’t offer the sternest examination, but India will take nothing for granted after their meltdown against the Kiwis. The Ahmedabad outing is the first of four Tests India will host in the next seven weeks; given that the last two will be against World Test Championship winners South Africa, it will be imperative for Shubman Gill, in his first home series as Test captain, to stack up as many points as possible from the Caribbean showdown.
Poor India record for WI
West Indies haven’t won a Test in India since 1994, and their last series success in these lands came as far back as in 1983-84. They have fallen off the perch spectacularly, their days of ruling the cricket world with an iron fist well behind them. Ranked No. 8 in the world, their woes have been exacerbated by the late pullouts of star pacers Shamar and Alzarri Joseph. Even with this duo in their midst, Roston Chase’s side have been hard pressed to run India close on a sustained basis. Now, that task has become even more daunting.
India were more than adequate in their first series in the post Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli era, the batting group covering itself in glory with Gill leading the way in England. The skipper hammered four hundreds and stacked up a record 754 runs while the rest of the batting group too flexed its muscle.
Spin advantage for hosts
A return to home comfort ought to work in their favour, especially if the tracks aren’t too spin-friendly and therefore don’t reduce the gulf between India’s well-entrenched spinners and the less experienced tweakers from the Caribbean.
It’s been raining here for the last couple of days, but the weather held up reasonably well on Tuesday. West Indies had a full session in the morning while India had a stint in the second half. The four members of the Asia Cup squad who are in the Test 15 — Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel — had the option of skipping nets. While the rest did exercise the option, the captain was at the ground doing what he likes to do best — being involved in the action.
India will have to play extremely poorly and the West Indians out of their skins for this to be a competitive, hard-fought battle. But in the last two years, the one-time Calypso Kings have tasted success in Brisbane and Multan, so why shouldn’t Ahmedabad also be on their radar?