New Delhi: Assessing Sai Sudharsan’s temperament and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s utility in home conditions would be topmost on India’s checklist when the high-on-confidence hosts take on a floundering West Indies team in the second and final Test, starting here on Friday.
India’s fine ensemble of individually gifted cricketers, each capable of walking into any top side internationally, will be pitted against a West Indies outfit that looks a pale shadow of its glorious past and is struggling to stay relevant in the traditional format.
It’s a team that now comprises largely reluctant players who might not even find takers in the ever-expanding global T20 freelance circuit.
An innings defeat without a semblance of fight in Ahmedabad was a testimony to the current state of flux in Caribbean cricket.
For India, another dominating performance isn’t just about wrapping up the series, but also about firming their grip on the World Test Championship points table and carrying a surge of confidence into the far sterner challenge that awaits against South Africa at home later this year.
The surface at the Feroz Shah Kotla promises another quick finish. Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate noted a “dry patch” that he felt could be helpful for seamers.
That alone ensures that Nitish, a promising young all-rounder, will retain his spot as India go in with an unchanged XI.
For Nitish, bowling remains his primary currency in this format.
With India’s batting line-up as deep and secure as any in world cricket, his evolution as a seam-bowling all-rounder is what the team management is keen to nurture in the long run.
The selectors and coaches aren’t too concerned yet about Sai Sudharsan but six failures in his last seven completed innings do present a reality check for a player still finding his rhythm in the demanding red-ball arena.
Yashasvi Jaiswal got a start, KL Rahul is in the form of his life having scored three hundreds in his last six Tests and with skipper Shubman Gill also helping himself with a half century, Sudharsan’s poor scores stuck out like a sore thumb as Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja also scored centuries.
Although he has the backing of Gill, Sudharsan would like to put a premium on his wicket knowing that there are others in queue.
But overall, the contrast between the two sides goes beyond technique or temperament — it’s about direction and belief.
While India’s dressing room buzzes with purpose, the West Indies appear adrift, trapped in a cycle of mediocrity that even their own legends find hard to explain.
Head coach Darren Sammy put it bluntly on the eve of second Test, calling the decline “a terminal disease, the cure of which looks improbable at the moment.”
On Tuesday evening, as the Indian squad gathered for a relaxed dinner at head coach Gautam Gambhir’s residence, the West Indian players took to a nearby golf course for an informal mentoring session.
There, three greats — Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Richie Richardson and Brian Lara — with a combined 26,442 Test runs between them, addressed the beleaguered team.
Whether those pearls of wisdom can inspire a temporary resistance remains to be seen.
But for now, everything about this contest suggests the inevitable — another Indian victory, swift and ruthless, and quite possibly another three-day finish.
The Kotla track, primarily a black soil one, promises good value for shots and if India get to bat first, the top order would again like to plunder a club class Windies bowling attack where only Jayden Seals looked the part in the first Test.
Squads:
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India: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Axar Patel, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Devdutt Padikkal.
West Indies: Roston Chase (Captain), Teganarine Chanderpaul, John Campbell, Alick Athanaze, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Justin Greaves, Kharry Pierre, Shai Hope, Jayden Seals, Jamel Warrican, Kevlon Anderson, Jediah Blades, Tevin Imlach, Anderson Phillip.
Match Starts: 9.30 am.
