West Indies pushovers? Not really, feels India

Virat Kohli

North Sound (Antigua): A perfect combination and a winning start will be foremost on skipper Virat Kohli's mind when India take on West Indies in their inaugural World Test Championship opener here today. A win in the opening Test will be the 27th for Kohli as skipper and will put him on even keel with his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A century in the game (19th as captain) will place him on par with Ricky Ponting.

On paper, a batting line-up that has Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant in the ranks should be termed clear favourites but this West Indies team, led by Jason Holder, is no pushover. England found that out the hard way at the start of the year when they lost a Test series 1-2 in some of the most lively pitches on the Caribbean islands in recent times.

One such pacer-friendly wicket was at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua where Kohli and his men will be facing the Windies first up. "People have been talking about Test cricket not being relevant or dying down. For me, the competition has gone up two-fold the last couple of years. It's up to the players to take the challenge and go for victories," Kohli said about the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship.

When England lost
The last Test played here saw England scoring 187 and 132 but that was a different time of the year. Nevertheless, Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, who recently got a fresh contract, will be wary of the challenge that can be posed by the new ball pair of Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel along with Jason Holder bowling his steady seam-up spells. If there is pace and bounce, Kohli is likely to go with four specialist bowlers in which Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav will be fighting for the lone spinner's slot. The three pacers, in all likelihood, will be Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. However, it is the batting combination that will be the skipper's primary worry and if he can get it right, that will be considered as a tactical victory.

Combination, the key
In an ideal situation, if Hardik Pandya was available, Kohli would have been tempted to drop one among Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane but given the recent record of West Indies in Tests, he might go in with an extra batsman which means both will feature in the playing XI. If a green-top is provided and Kohli still goes with five bowlers which includes Ravindra Jadeja as an all-rounder, it could well be a toss-up between the two Mumbaikars. The other issue will be at the top of the order as to who will open with Mayank Agarwal.

The common logic says KL Rahul, who is a specialist opener, but Hanuma Vihari was sent to do the fire-fighting in Australia and it would be unfair to not give him another opportunity against a relatively easier pace attack. The West Indies team in the Test format has been an understated one with players who have more talent than what the numbers currently show. In Shai Hope, John Campbell and Shimron Hetmyer, they have the three talented youngsters. Roston Chase, during the 2016 series against India, had thwarted Ashwin for a whole fifth day in Kingston after West Indies were staring at an innings defeat. In addition to that, he is a steady off-spinner with 50 Test wickets.

All you want to know about the ICC Test C'ship

The tournament will be played from July 15, 2019 to April 30, 2021.
The nine top-ranked sides in the world will compete in the tournament, with each side playing six series on a home-and-away basis against mutually selected opponents in the two-year cycle.
The final league game will be played in April 2021 with the Windies set to travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series.
The aim is to bring more context to bilateral Tests.
The Top 2 sides will contest in the ICC World Test Championship final in
June 2021.
Each series can have between two to five Tests but the points on offer from each Test series will be the same i.e. 120.
For a tie or no result, teams will get between 30 and 12 points, depending on the length of the series.
For a draw, teams will get between 20 to eight points, depending on the length of the series. The winning team will earn between 60 to 24 points.
While Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan will not participate, the last two will play Tests as part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme.

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates