Internet Desk: India will try to retain their winning record intact whereas West Indies will go for a new record of winning a test series against India on their home soil in the series starting from tomorrow at Antigua.
India is going to face the Caribbeans after four years on their soil. This tour is important from Indian perspective as Anil Kumble is making his debut as the head coach of India team. Virat Kohli who made his test debut in West Indies will be donning the captain’s hat this time for the first time.
As such the focus now completely shifts to the field, where the Indian players will try to put in action the plans laid out by their new coach. In doing so, skipper Virat Kohli will aim to complete a hat trick of Test series wins in the Caribbean, after Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni led their sides to victory in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
Also, Kohli will be hoping to win a third successive Test series, after beating Sri Lanka 2-1 away and South Africa 3-0 at home, both last year.
India expects slow pitches in West Indies. However, the two practice matches they played against WICBP XI, showed enough runs. However, the St. Kitts pitch had slow turn for the spinners and very little by way of movement for the pacers.
Antigua has the average of 42.70 runs per wicket. However, this is the highest average among all venues that have hosted four or more Tests. Excluding the 2008-09 Test between England and the hosts here, which was abandoned after ten balls due to bad pitch conditions, teams have managed to score 300-plus in seven of the 12 innings.
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has a good record on the soil of West Indies. He had taken 22 wickets in three test matches. He also has his lone ten wicket haul in a single test in that series.
Surface of the pitch also shows advantage for the pacers. With two days to go, there were a green sprinkling of grass on the surface. It seemed nothing more than patches left to hold the pitch together for five days, and yet it could alter the Indian think-tank’s plans regarding the first-choice eleven.