India vs West Indies, 2018: 3 things we learned from the first Test
The 1st Test between India and West Indies turned out to be a one-sided affair with India winning the game by a huge margin of an innings and 272 runs. The game was wrapped in 3 days, and West Indies offered no fight with the bat on both the occasions.
Electing to bat first, India notched up a mammoth total of 649/9 in their 1st innings thanks to centuries by debutant Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja. In reply, West Indies were bundled out for 181 in their 1st innings. Roston Chase was the highest scorer with a well made 53. Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for Team India with 4 wickets to his name.
India enforced the follow-on on Day 3 and the same story repeated. West Indies batsmen offered no application to occupy the crease, instead were on attacking mode and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Kieran Powell’s bold and attacking stroke play paid off to a major extent but his luck ran out when he was caught by the close infielder for a well made 83.
West Indies were bundled out for 196 in 50.5 overs and with this win, India notch up their biggest test win in terms of runs.
In a game that India dominated completely, let us look at the three things that we learned:
#1 West Indies need proper Test batsmen
The current West Indies team is a bunch of youngsters who are inexperienced and lack the ability to face quality teams at international level. Although they have managed to put in a good performance on an odd occasion their overall record in Test cricket in overseas has been very poor. The main reason for their poor performances is due to the lack of proper Test batsmen.
Previously they had the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo etc who would hold up one end in crisis. But the current lot does not have a proper Test Batsmen who can face quality opposition and spend time at the crease.
This was very evident today as all the batsmen showed no application with the bat and kept slogging throughout. Although Kieran Powell’s attacking blitz paid off to some extent, his dismissal was always on the cards.
For West Indies to develop as a formidable Test nation they would require proper test batsmen who could spend time at the crease and score runs against the opposition in any conditions.