India vs West Indies, 2nd Test: Team India Aims At A Series Whitewash In Hyderabad

After a convincing victory in the first Test at the Saurashtra Cricket Association in Rajkot, Virat Kohli and his men will look to seal a 2-0 whitewash against a lacklustre Windies in the second and final Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. India won the first Test by a record innings and 272 runs and the second also threatens to be a lop-sided contest. The Windies probably have more trouble on the cards as their skipper Jason Holder remains unfit and their only fast bowler of repute, Shanon Gabriel, is a doubtful starter for the encounter.

India, on the other hand, have not made any changes to the squad that won the first game inside three days in Rajkot. The lop-sided matches are hardly the kind of preparation the Indian team would have wanted before the big-ticket series against Australia starting in December.

In fact, Virat Kohli's team might feel a sense of deja vu as it goes into the second Test.

In 2011, India dominated the West Indies 2-0 in a one-sided series before crashing to a 0-4 defeat against Australia Down Under. Similarly, in 2013 when India won both Test matches well inside three days, the next tour of South Africa didn't pan out well as they lost the series.

It is just an indicator that the West Indies Test teams over the years have not been competitive enough to challenge the Indian team at home.

The focus, once again, will be on Indian skipper Virat Kohli who scored 139 off 230 balls. And not to forget the 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who expectedly hogged the limelight with a smashing ton on debut.

However, the only area of concern for India will be vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane's form. Rahane has gone without a Test hundred for nearly 14 months (last hundred came against Sri Lanka in August 2017).

Shardul Thakur continues to be the 12th man as a 2-0 series win is paramount for the home team at this point of time. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will also like to use this opportunity well as they are unlikely to feature in the ODI series.

For the Windies, the aim will to at least put up some fight unlike the Rajkot game where they didn't even last 100 overs across both innings.

Kieran Powell's 83 and Roston Chase's 53 were the only notable contributions from the Caribbean batting line-up in the first game.

India Final 12: Virat Kohli (capt), Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Virat Kohli India vs West Indies 2018 Cricket