Rohit Sharma with Kraigg Brathwaite ahead of the West Indies-India Test series. Photo: Twitter
India attempt to extend West Indies’ 21 years of misery when they meet in the lush tropical setting of Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica on Wednesday in the first match of a two-Test series.
Rocked by the failure of the two-time winners to qualify for the World Cup in India in October-November this year, the Caribbean cricket community is unlikely to find solace in the shape of Kraigg Brathwaite’s Test side.
The West Indies last won a Test match against India back in 2002.
This brief series, which ends in Trinidad the following week in what will be the 100th Test between the two teams, marks the start of the next two-year World Test Championship cycle leading to the final in 2025.
Beaten by New Zealand in the inaugural final in 2021 and then outplayed by Australia in the 2023 decider just four weeks ago, Rohit Sharma’s team is likely to show no more than three changes from the side that lost the new Test cricket showpiece by 209 runs at The Oval.
Spinning all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, unlucky to have been omitted from last month’s duel with Australia, should have the chance to add to his already impressive record against the West Indies.
In 11 Tests against these opponents he has taken 60 wickets and compiled four of his five Test centuries in averaging just over 50 with the bat.
Windsor Park has generally offered little encouragement for fast bowlers but there is an element of the unknown this time around as the venue is hosting its first Test since Pakistan’s historic series-clinching triumph in 2017.
Notwithstanding their obvious underdog status and especially concerns about the ability of the batting line-up to cope with the Indian attack, West Indies batting legend Brian Lara — the performance mentor for the team — is hopeful that the home side, and particularly the younger, inexperienced players, can offer more than a glimmer of encouragement at time of widespread cricketing gloom in the region.
