It was here in the Caribbean that Virat Kohli made his Test debut. Raw and inexperienced, Kohli found it hard to deal with the conditions back in 2011. Five years later and with 40 more Test matches under his belt, Kohli is in Antigua, the land of sea and sun as the skipper of the Indian Test team. In his first full series as captain outside the sub-continent, Kohli does not want his boys to just bag the series, but dominate and win every game. The aggressive captain declared that India will be on the offence in the first Test to be played at Sir Viv Richards Stadium from Thursday.
“After playing the Test series in Australia and Sri Lanka, we realized that is important to attack in the first game. If you want to set the tone for the rest of the series, you will have to play your strongest bowling attack. As batsmen, you have to take responsibility. I am always in favour of playing five because if we play more batsmen, you can score 700 runs in the Test but that doesn't help in any way; you need to take 20 wickets. So our top five batsmen plus keeper have to take responsibility and raise a big score so that we can bowl them out twice.”
Both in Australia and Sri Lanka, India started off well in the first Test, but a couple of misses in the crucial sessions cost them the game. India lost the Adelaide Test (2014) by 48 runs and the Galle Test (2015) by 63 runs. In the Sri Lanka series, India quickly adapted to the conditions in the second game and won by an emphatic margin of 278 runs and followed it up with another victory to seal the series 2-1. Kohli admitted that India did not play those important sessions well, but have learned and improved. “We played 80 percent of the Test match well in Sri Lanka and lost because the 20 percent was more important than the 80 percent. So we have realized that we have to play 100 per cent well, because the 10-15 percent remaining is most important and this comes with experience. The players are willing to learn and we will see this in the coming series as well.”
With Mohammed Shami back, Kohli’s concept of five bowlers’ gets a major boost as he has an aggressive bowler capable of bowling at different stages of a Test. So delighted was Kohli with his return that he called Shami, a complete bowler. “He is a gun bowler, the areas he hits is what you need in Test cricket - the attacking lengths - and he has the ability to get batsmen out at any stage of the game, which is very pleasing in Test cricket and important for a captain. So Shami being back in the side obviously gives us a lot of options. The guy can bowl with the new and old ball, reverse swing, he can come round the wicket, use bouncers and use his space well. I think as a fast bowler he is a complete package and I only wish him the best of luck in this season and hope he delivers like he has done in the past as well.”
While it remains to be seen whether the fifth bowler’s slot is filled by medium pacer Stuart Binny or left-arm spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the team management also had options to ponder in the batting department. KL Rahul has established himself as a promising opener with Test hundreds in Sydney and Colombo. Shikhar Dhawan, a left-hand batsman has a different style and looks to dominate the bowlers. Kohli said, “It's a very strange situation because in international cricket you need to understand one thing that you cannot count players out because of one series. If you are talking about KL Rahul, obviously he has improved leaps and bounds as a cricketer in the last three-four months. He has established himself as the third opener. He's a regular in the Test side, played in Sri Lanka and scored runs there, but that's one call you need to take as captain, that's why the job is not easy, for the management and captain together.”
In Numbers:
• This will be the first Test India will play this year. India last played a Test against South Africa in December 2015. West Indies played a Test earlier this year in January against Australia
• This will be the first Test series for Anil Kumble after being appointed the Head Coach
• This is the first full Test series for Virat Kohli as captain outside the sub-continent.
• Starting with the home Test series in 2002, India have won five straight Test series against West Indies
• West Indies have not beaten India in a Test match for 15 consecutive matches, dating back to October 2002
• In India’s previous tour of West Indies, Ishant Sharma was named Man of the Series for his tally of 22 wickets. He is also the most experienced player in the Indian squad with 68 Test caps
• Shardul Thakur is the only uncapped player in India’s Test squad. West Indies have two uncapped players - Miguel Cummins and Roston Chase – in their squad
• India have played 90 Test matches against West Indies with 16 wins, 30 losses and 44 drawn games
• The last time India played West Indies in a Test, it was Sachin Tendulkar’s final Test. India won that match by an innings and 126, which is also their largest win over West Indies
• Sunil Gavaskar holds the record for most runs (2749) in India-West Indies Test matches followed by Clive Lloyd (2344)
• Kapil Dev has most wickets (89) in India-West Indies Test matches followed by Malcolm Marshall (76)
