West Indies vs India – 2nd Test
After suffering something resembling a brutal beating in Antigua last week, West Indies head to arguably their favourite ground in Jamaica on Saturday looking to square up their ongoing Test series with India with two matches left to come.
India will head to Jamaica knowing full well that a different test faces them but if they can negate the threat and come out victorious they will have secured at least a share of the series with half of the series left to be played.
West Indies
I couldn’t decide whether it was a lack of patience and discipline or if the West Indian batsmen simply aren’t good enough but whatever it was it was extremely disappointing to watch them bat in the first Test. I suspect it is a mixture of the two but their best chance of winning could come on a ground like this where scoring isn’t expecting to be high.
In fairness to their bowlers they stuck to the task on a pretty flat wicket but bowling to superstars isn’t easy and they never really looked threatening in what was the only innings they had to bowl in. They will certainly enjoy these conditions a lot more.
India
I would imagine India will have been overjoyed with what was a near perfect performance in the opening Test but they can’t afford to rest on their laurels because this will be a much different test for them here on a fast, bouncy, lively wicket so we will see what they are made of.
Virat Kohli led from the front in the first Test while Ravi Ashwin was a revelation in his new role batting at number six as well as leading from the front with the ball in his hand. If he can master these conditions India will be a long way to securing their share of the series.
Team News
Whether West Indies had threatened in Antigua or not I suspect changes were always going to be made to their attack for this match to get the extra seamer into play. Miguel Cummins was originally in the first Test squad and it will be interesting to see if he gets the chance or whether it goes to the exciting youngster Alzarri Joseph.
India will be forced into at least one change with Murali Vijay out with the thumb injury he picked up on the opening day in Antigua. KL Rahul is the most likely to slot in for him while Virat Kohli has confirmed that India will play a second spinner despite the green looking track.
Sabina Park
There have been 48 previous Test matches on this famous old ground. West Indies have a really positive record here with 23 wins and 12 defeats with 13 draws although you do have to go right the way back to 1997 for the last time there was a draw here. This isn’t India’s favourite hunting ground with two wins and six defeats from their 11 contests here.
This has very much been a ground for the bowlers traditionally. There has only been one score of more than 400 here in the last five Test matches and this has a real reputation of being a result wicket and Kohli has used that exact quote in his interviews in the run up to the match so expect a low scoring match with the bowlers on top.
Betting
The nature of this wicket could well suit the West Indies. Whether they have the confidence, the belief and most importantly the ability to make the most of that remains to be seen but there is enough there to ensure I don’t go near India at cramped prices.
Once again I’m going off to the player performances for this match where the West Indies captain Jason Holder looks to have a low line given how good he is with the bat. He showed how good he is in that discipline last year when he blasted an unbeaten 82 against a very strong Australia bowling attack so that is a positive already.
He also claimed two wickets in that match and given that he is likely to take the new ball here I’m not ruling out first innings wickets in this one either. He is that good with the bat that a couple of wickets and a couple of average innings will get this total covered and for a captain at this level that is the very least he should be looking to achieve. If he’s on a really good week he should cover this with bat and ball.
Tips
WON – Back J.Holder’s Performance – Over 80.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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