India in West Indies

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First test starts in Antigua and Ind has had as good practice as they get these days

dunno exactly what antigua pitch will be like.....in genral WI pithces are slow, and aiding spin these days....

India has two decisions to make

1) Who is the 2nd opener.....given that Vijay is first?

Form and technique would make KL Rahul the front runner and gets my

2) Who is the 5th bowler....it's certain Ind will go with 5 bowlers

Ishant
Yaadav
Mishra
Ashwin are a given


the 5th is likey to be Jadeja ( who goot some runs) and wickets also....and frontrunner...unless pitch is green and seaming

and Binny if it is Green and seaming

although India shhould have brought Pandya in place of Binny


likely 11
1) Vijay
2) Rahul
3) Pujara
4) Kohli
5) Rahane
6) Saha
7) Binny/ Jadeja
8) Mishra
9) Ashwin
10) Ishant
11) Yadav

Batting isn't very solid....but they bat all the way down to No.9

Seems the team is collectively revolting against Kohli's stupid philosophy of 'Changing a Session By Smashing Everything. 17 over of the morning producing 35 runs as Ashwin and Saha continue to plod along. Kohli picked Rohit Sharma to change the test match in a session, Rohit as usual didn't even managed to survive a session! But he ensured Kohli has to change his batting position, mess with Rahane's position in the order too! And overall, the team scores at 2.5 an over, that too because young KL Rahul took his captain rather seriously! The rest of them just crawling along just to show the immature skip the value of 'Solid'!

Wriddhiman Saha, after solidly building up a foundation for his innings, is now opening up by playing some shots. His partnership is changing the direction of the test match, not in 1 session, but over 3 session. Hope the Indian captain is taking note!

As the session went on, Saha, building his best test innings so far, started taking the bowling on, and by the last over, reached 90s for the first time in his test career. He is 93 and Ashwin as they went to lunch. They have put on 190 so far for the 6th wicket. Although Kohli has been foolhardy and pathetic with the Vijay non-selection and Rohit selection, his and the management's call to promote Ashwin to 6 is really working out a treat.

Ashwin gets to his 4th test hundred, his 2nd of the series in some style, launching Chase for 6!

After a massive 213 run 6th wicket partnership, India lost 5-14 to be bowled out for 353. Ashwin made 118 and Wriddhiman Saha scored his first test ton, making 104. Alzarri Joseph takes 3 wickets in his debut innings. Miguel Cummins finished with 3 wickets as well, 2 of them in an over, all 3 wickets within 10 balls, after going wicketless in his debut game and not getting a wicket in 4 sessions in this game. Gabriel and Chase chipped in with 2 each.

Seems Kohli's sense is slowly returning! No favors for his Delhi mate Ishant Sharma with the new ball. Bhuvneshwar with the first over, and its rightfully, Mohammed Shami from the other end.

West Indies survived the mini session before tea without damage as they reached 16 without loss. India had one opportunity, when the returning Leon Johnson, already looking many times better than the out of his depth Rajendra Chandrika, edged Mohammed Shami, only for KL Rahul to drop it at slip.

Rahul makes up for his earlier miss with a brilliant run-out! Johnson took on Rahul's arm, for no good reason! he did some quick work to send back the West Indies opener with a direct hit. A half-century opening partnership is broken at last.
Darren Bravo is a test class batsman, but he has struggled in this series so far. What can he produce here?

Ashwin is pretty much the Inddian team at the moment it seems. Id have him as favourite to stop this from ending in defeat or a draw, hes the only real class bowler India have.

Shami is someone who can very much be there. Ishant hasn't lived up to his potential and is not likely to improve dramatically any more. Bhuvneshwar is a traditional English type bowler who can be very good in certain conditions and be nothing more than a support act in most other conditions. Jadeja is a pretty decent 2nd spinner, can control the runs in most conditions, and when the ball spins, can be lethal. But Other than Shami, and to a certain extend Ashwin, there aren't all-condition strike bowlers for India. And it just doesn't matter whether you play 4 or 5 of them when you go in with a brittle batting lineup that has 1 proven non-test class failure and a technically suspect opener who has been far too inconsistent throughout his career.......

After West Indies resisted hard early on, they collapsed to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 2nd new ball. Bhuvneshwar bowled as if he was playing in England, swing the new ball at will and confounding the West Indies batsmen. He finished with 5-33, Ravichandran Ashwin chipped in with 2 wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja, going at an economy rate of just over 1 an over finished with 1-27 in 25 overs. Darren Bravo, playing his best innings of the series so far, was done in by the bouncer again, this time from Ishant Sharma, though he was unlucky to be given out as Ishant had overstepped, but the 3rd umpire somehow contrived to miss that.
West Indies were bowled out for 225, giving India a handy 128 run first innings lead.
Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan started positively, but Miguel Cummins nipped Rahul for 28 of 24, and Virat Kohli shielding his friend Rohit Sharma, came in at 3 and failed yet again, plumb LBW to Cummins. And I haven't ever felt so happy to see Kohli getting packed off!

Dhawan is playing a decent hand so far. Think it will be good for the West Indies if he gets a score here as Kohli will use that to keep Murali Vijay out. And they should let Rohit score a few as well, as that is likely to help not only them, but England, New Zealand and Australia too, as they would have to worry about one less batsmen in the Indian lineup and Rohit is sure to stay in the side for the next 15 tests!!

After he managed to survive Joseph, Gabriel and Cummins, Dhawan falls to Chase for 26.
Out comes the Session Changer!

Holder trying everything possible to help out Rohit and Kohli out, brings Kraigg Brathwaite on for a bowl!

a very sensible move in the end by Kohli to get Bhuvi in......he doesn't have pace....but has shown ample times , he is a wizard of swing.....adds a great deal of variety  to the bowling...and can bat too.

the dropping of Murali Vijay who has proved himself on EVERY overseas tour is APPALLING......and for Rohit...is outrageous.

that kohli knew it will rain and needed to have faster scoring batters....may all be overtly logical...but that's not how test cricket is won.....radical changes may sometime work over 20 to 50 over games.......over 5 days stability and consistency is needed

that said...Rohit might turn this into a fast 75odd not-out ....India may win the test today

that he didn't get to play a test in this series...even as pitches were assisting seam....and India playing 5 bowlers....implies end of the road for Binny

Only followed this Test in snatches on cricinfo but at the end of day 4 India have a decent chance of victory leading by 280 odd with 7 second innings wickets in hand and 98 overs allowed for the last day provided the weather holds.

Have a thrash for about 8 overs in the morning and then set 'em something like 340, msp?

Against this West Indies lineup, think they should just declare at the outset and unleash Bhuvneshwar with the new ball rightaway!
When I reread some of my earlier posts, just realized I was absolutely savaging Kohli and it reflected my attitude towards an India win in this game, but now that they've come so far, hope the bowlers can do it a 2nd time and take them 2-0 ahead. Kohli's selection decisions with Rohit and Vijay have been absolutely appalling, and the fact that Rohit has got a few runs 2nd time round and might stay in the test side on the strength of this innings for at least 5 games and would be around the test squad for even longer fill me with a sense of foreboding and depression, but hopefully the bowlers and the rest of the batting lineup can make up for all that. And Let Virat struggle a bit at 3 for his stupid favoritism! He'll eventually come good there, and Rohit will make sure Vijay and Pujara will be back sooner than later so that Kohli can be back batting at 4 anyways!

it's unbelievable that the 3rd umpire and the whole world saw that HUGE no-ball......and yet they didn't overrule the dismissal of saha

both dismissals this morning to poor umpiring

pitch is seaming....balls are jagging around.....and outfield slow....India has plenty on the board and should declare such that they have 5 overs with the 2nd new ball also

Sorry, msp - Kohli obviously acted on my post.

345 lead
89 minus two overs......means 7 overs with 2nd new ball if the game goes so far

India should win.....but we are wary of what Roston and Holder did in T2

35-3 WI....all seamers have a wicket apiece....pitch is seaming and with bounce...hard work for wI

95-9

india win...quite easily in the end
first time Ind wins 2 tests in a series

the biggest gain for India from this series is the affirmation of Saha as a batsman and WK

and Kohli keeps taking giant leaps as a captain....looking for wins all the time and getting them most often

Massive win for India in the end. Good, collective bowling performance led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He took 6 for the game, and the other 4 bowlers, all of them collected 3 wickets each, and there were 2 run-outs to add to it. That is a very collective bowling performance.......
Kohli, contrary to his instincts, set suitable fields for Bhuvneshwar's style of bowling, and though his friend Rohit Sharma, fielding close in, dropped more than he caught, kept attacking fields. And the bowlers recovered from the disappointment of the 2nd test pretty well. The changes helped a great deal, Bhuvneshwar swung the new ball at decent pace and with good control, Jadeja giving away absolutely nothing, and bowling with great intensity in all his spells.
Will Kohli's sense make a complete recovery before the last test? Will Vijay return for the next game at least? He's unlikely to drop his friend, but surely the Delhi teammate can now be benched as he's back to his usual inconsistent ways?

Even during the presentation, Kohli is going gaga about Rohit, "Dangerous' at 5! What on earth are you talking? Bloody nonsense Virat! So the team will continue to bend over backwards to accommodate the no-hoper!

another series win for Kohli

in the end that's all that matters

A series win against the West Indies is what has always been expected going into the series. The overall improvement of the team is what really matters. Ashwin has proved that he can do a decent double-up as a number 6 batsman, Saha seems to be finally working out ways to score runs at the top level. Rahul is establishing himself, and Shami has made a fine comeback after a very long injury layoff. Bhuvneshwar's return is also good.
Dhawan continues to be far too inconsistent, Pujara and Umesh Yadav have regressed, and Amit Mishra didn't take the opportunity to establish himself as India's 2nd spinner, a role to which Ravindra Jadeja is much more suited as he brings in the element of control as well. Rohit Sharma has yet again proved that all that he can do is to disrupt the Indian batting lineup much better than any opposition bowler can ever hope to do, and by insisting on picking him even at the expense of team stability, Kohli has proved that he's far from being mature as a captain!

Vijay and Pujara in.......Dhawan and Jadeja out

why is dhawan out?
and why has India left out the 5th bowler....commentators say its likelt to assist the spinners this pitch

hope some facts will come out so that we know the underlying rationale...
are they playing to secure a draw
or has Dhoni gotten into Kohli and considering sharma a spinning allrounder

this comment on CI resonates with what might be the thinking

"I think Jadeja's exclusion made one thing pretty clear. India is looking to bat long and bat only once. Once the pitch starts turning, the part-timers in Vijay and Rohit may come in to play if there is any need. Brave Decision from Kohli after all the talk about five-bowler strategy."

all 12 runs have come behind the wicket.....byes and edges dropped / dropping short

Kohli has yet again proved that he's willing to go to any extend to have Rohit Useless Sharma in the side. A massive match aggregate of 007 runs told the skipper that despite all the chest-thumping stupidity, he's still vulnerable to the new ball, and that it would be better to have players who are likely to succeed in dealing with the new ball in the batting lineup though their faces don't fit. So he has brought back Vijay, and Pujara too. Will be interesting to see whether Virat would still bat 3 so that Pujara can be backed at a certain position down the order? Or such privileges are there only for Nohit?
And this man who has been talking up the aggressive 5 bowler theory has all of a sudden gone back to 4 bowlers, dropped his 2nd spinner on a track that is predicted to take turn later on.

And there already is significant turn for Ashwin. Will Kohli have to regret this latest round of stupidity?

Perhaps Rohit is picked as a bowler who can bat? Perhaps offspinner Rohit will change the test match in asession!!!!

msp83 wrote:will Kohli have to regret this latest round of stupidity?

he is our "winnengest" test match captain

As far as I know, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has led India to most number of test wins! Play called off after lunch due to rain, West Indies at 62-2. Wicket each for Ishant and Ashwin.

msp83 wrote:As far as I know, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has led India to most number of test wins!

ratio of wins to games played...inspite of the sure win BD test rained out

Hmmmm, lets how he goes in England, Australia and South Africa, and NZ too. Kohli has a lot promising about him as captain, and MSD believes he'll make a great all formats captain. But if he can't overcome his obsessions and silliness, that promise can get lost rather soon. Hopes the selectors would step and relieve Kohli of the responsibility of caring for his good friend. Think Kohli somehow feel obligated to save his friend Rohit, something like Tendulkar had felt regarding Vinod Kambli early in his captaincy.

Ancient ground maintenance techniques means that on a brighty and sunny morning, there won't be any play yet again! Playing test cricket against the West Indies is disgraceful in more than one ways!

well honestly this series doesn't excite me too much.....so the loss of time to rain hasn't bothered much.

it's like practice games.....we know we will beat them rather tamely

and while winning overseas is good.....and we need to quench ourselves for years of starvation.......it still doesn't make every exciting cricket....so 3 tests would have been enuf

Yes, 3 would have been more than enough. Unless the WICB gets their act together, I don't think any side should play more than 2 tests against the West Indies. That too, just out of consideration for the players. Such a useless bunch of ludicrous jokers!

it's raining all over the world ( of cricket)
ind-wi, aus-sa, pak-ire and sl-aus all hit by rains

Yes, the rain gods were really taking it out on cricket yesterday....... Interestingly, cricinfo reported there was not drop of rain at the WI-India game yesterday and not that much on day 2 either.
The best game that was ruined was the SA-NZ one, it really was shaping up wonderfully well.

there is an interesting quadrangular---> in aus and the next gen of India are all playing

watch out for Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair...one of them will come in for Rohit sooner than later and other will be pushing Pujara.

Hardik pandya would have given Kohli much more versatality had he been in the squad instead of Binny
He must nbe picked in ODIs and if he performs there test matches is the next step for him.
I can understand thouhg it may not have been easy for selectors to bring him from T20s ( where he has performed) directly into tests

The obnoxious farce continues! Bright sunshine, no overnight rain, and no play due to a wet outfield! Hope this is the last India play a test against the West Indies in recent times. Complete waste of time.

msp83 wrote:Yes, 3 would have been more than enough. Unless the WICB gets their act together, I don't think any side should play more than 2 tests against the West Indies. That too, just out of consideration for the players. Such a useless bunch of ludicrous jokers!

Pakistan have 3 next year.

Dulpeep trophy has shed off the zonal color and taken literal colors Red, Blue, Green.......and some very good performances in R vs G played under lights with the pink balls.

Mukund...the younger and equally prolific FC partner of Vijay......had two extraordinary knocks on a pitch that seemingly helped seamers and spinners.
Given that he is only 26.....a second run is possible if he ha a good season and demonstrates tightness in defense that earlier eluded him.

and Chinamen Kuldip took 9 and pacer Nathu had 7.....many of his wickets came off full / fast swinging yorkers it appears....both young and for the near future along with shardul.

Kumble like leggie S. Gopal had a 5-er an sandeep sharma also picked about 5 in the game.......on the fringes of considerations these two also

Abhinav Mukund is the Player of the Match for his knocks of 77 and 169. "I was getting into good positions. I've been training well back home, especially batting under lights. That experience helped me here. I think a lot of people had issues sighting the ball, but I didn't have any issues with visibility. The wicket was damp, that's perhaps why so many wickets fell on the first day. I worked hard during the off season. I got leaner and stronger. I worked on my batting as well. I want to carry it through. Hopefully this season marks a turnaround for me.
Yuvraj Singh: Nathu bowled a superb spell to bring us back. Abhinav and Chatterjee's partnership gave us control. I thought the way the ball was moving, 161 in the first innings was a decent score. We wanted to restrict them to below 200. I thought the pink ball moved a bit more than the SG ball. It was pretty exciting, the pink ball doesn't go old. It was coming onto the bat nicely.
Suresh Raina: Credit to Kuldeep Yadav for bowling superbly.The pink ball experience was good. I was discussing with Yuvi pa as well, the more we play, the better we'll get at it. Thank the crowd for coming out and supporting us.

massacre in florida....WI 164-1 in 11 overs
guess who is captaining India