Daily Times

Jamaica: West Indies last beat India in Test cricket in 2002, at Sabina Park in Jamaica. They have had three close Tests since. Two of these three Tests were played in Jamaica. It is the venue that gives them the best chance to compete with India. In the last three Tests between the two sides in Kingston, only once did a team go past 300 runs and only once did the test match enter the fifth day, 18 years have passed till a test was drawn of its own volition in Jamaica.

Sabina Park’s bowler-friendly pitch bridges the gap between the hosts’ attack and India’s; it also draws them out of their bunkers. On both of India’s last visits to the West Indies, only Sabina Park produced a result. This year, though, the Test side has slipped as they registered their biggest home defeat on a fairly good batting surface in the series opener in Antigua.

The plan was from a track with no terrors, a side stacked up with batsmen, go to Jamaica 0-0 and then see how India fare against the seaming ball. It’s a sound plan against a better team, but the problem with defensive cricket is that you have to play it excellently for long periods of time.

Both the bowlers and the batsmen could not do it for nearly a long period of time, so not having defensive option can only help them in Jamaica.

India’s batsmen came through way better when they were stalled through defensive lines in Antigua. This will be a different test. West Indies have reinforced their attack, adding Under-19 talent Alzarri Joseph to the squad. India won their last two close Tests here thanks to Rahul Dravid’s performances, if West Indies bowlers turn up India might need something similar from their batsmen.

The possible teams that will face up against each other could look like;

West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Rajendra Chandrika, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Jermaine Blackwood/Leon Johnson/Carlos Brathwaite, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt.), 9 Shannon Gabriel, 10 Miguel Cummins/Alzarri Joseph, 11 Devendra Bishoo

India(probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 R Ashwin, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav

The pitch had a heavy covering of grass on the eve of the Test match, and Virat Kohli welcomed what he referred to as a ‘result wicket’. While the fast bowlers would normally be expected to do the bulk of the bowling and take the bulk of the wickets, he felt the spinners could also come into play, particularly in the second innings, given the amount of bounce expected. A moderately heavy shower hit Kingston soon after India’s practice session had ended on Friday afternoon. Rain is forecast for all five days of the Test as well.