When India made three changes for the third Test,the popular opinion was that the decision was made in haste and the team combination was unnecessarily tinkered with. Wholesome changes despite a 1-0 lead led people to question the tactics but as India registered an emphatic 237 runs victory on the final day at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, those changes played a pivotal role in India sealing the series 2-0 with a match still to be played.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought India back into the game with his five-for on the fourth day after an entire day’s play was lost, Rohit Sharma scored a breezy 41 with one four and three sixes, allowing India to declare quickly and Ravindra Jadeja bowled nearly 30 overs in the match with an economy of just 1.59 building tremendous pressure from one end.
Since touring the Caribbean Islands for the first time in 1952-53, India had never managed to win two Tests in a series but their brilliant performance on the final day where they skittled the home team out for a paltry 108 helped them end the streak 11-series’ streak. India’s third largest win outside Asia was made possible because of the willingness to get out of the comfort zones and the perfect reading of the conditions here at Gros Islet.
It was the extension of India’s horses for courses policy, but with more fluidity in the batting lineup. Captain Virat Kohli got a double hundred at No.4 in the first Test, but opted to bat at three to accommodate and attacking Rohit. Though Kohli did not have a memorable game with the bat, the captain who believes in leading by example said he was ready to bat anywhere for his team. “Usually, we are averse to change. This team doesn’t think how others would react or what they might say. We put out a combination that’s best according to the pitch. When I came at No.3, many people asked why I did it. But I am not fixated by my batting spot. If the team needs, I can open the batting too because that’s the rule applicable to everyone in the team.
“If you make three changes, you might feel that it might be too strong a reaction. But we realised that if we have to seal the series here then we had to make changes according to the conditions. We will not wait for another match because you never know if you play one or two bad sessions the series could be leveled. Our idea was that we have to seal the series here.”
The aggressive captain said it was important to switch gears as the series progressed. India played attacking cricket in the first Test to take an early lead, but had to be patient in the second and third Test. “We understand that as a team, it's not about going all out in every session. That's not how a team expresses. Expressing means that you have to be smart in every session that we play. Expressing means showing intent but still defending for two hours because the team needs it. That's expressing your talent as well. Temperament is one of the major parts of a cricketer. I think we have expressed ourselves very nicely according to the situation of the game.”
After India had failed to bowl the opposition out in Jamaica on a slow wicket on the final day, Kohli had that as a team it was a learning curve. The visitors got almost a similar situation in the third Test when third day’s play was washed out and India needed to dismiss the West Indies on the final day to seal victory. “I think everyone was hungry to change things around after Jamaica because we understood that we have the momentum, we are playing good cricket, we are on top in ever Test match so we need to finish things off. I am really glad people stepped up at the right times and did the job for us.”
He praised R Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha’s 213-run stand for the sixth wicket that rescued India from 126-5. Kohli said that was the most important partnership for him in the series. “Saha and Ashwin in the first innings, that was probably the most important partnership in the series. We had quite a few but that for me stands out till now in terms of where the series has gone. We have been able to seal the game because of the effort of those two. If we lost two more wickets you never know we wouldn’t have been on top in the Test match. Lot of credit goes to those two as well.”
