India won what turned into an amazing Test match against the West Indies in a week of incredible games to take a 1-0 lead in their series with the West Indies and they head into the second Test which begins on Friday knowing that they only need to avoid defeat to claim a series win.
West Indies were more than competitive for a lot of that opening game but couldn’t quite be at their best for the whole five days and paid the price as a result. They have to win this match if they are going to share the spoils.
West Indies
To get 17 wickets in the first game and get them as comfortably as they did will have been a real boost for West Indies, but their disappointment came with the bat where they were unable to build on the work of their bowling attack. Their second innings in particular was disappointing, although we’ve seen in the past that batting for a draw is never the easiest thing to do when winning is out of the equation.
To be fair though, when you think where West Indies have been in this format of the game in the recent past, that was a respectable effort and there were some positives to take from it. They will know where they need to work ahead of this Jamaica contest but if they can come up with a better performance with the bat then all is not lost for them.
India
Credit must also go to India for never giving up hope of winning that first Test and they got their reward for that at the end. They were indebted to a wonderful performance with the ball but to be fair to their batsmen, they negotiated a couple of pressurised positions to put their side in a position where they couldn’t lose, which will have given their bowlers the freedom to go on the attack knowing the position they were in.
The good thing for India is that they weren’t perfect in that opening match so even though they won it, there is things they can work on and improve in and that is never a bad thing. The one thing they have to guard against in this match is the lure of the plane home. India have been in this part of the world for a month or so now and the flight home will get more and more appealing with every passing day.
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Team News
West Indies will make at least one change to their side from the first Test. Keemo Paul has recovered from the injury which kept him out of the first game and will replace Miguel Cummins. Rakheem Cornwall is hoping for his debut.
India are also considering a change to their team with R Ashwin potentially replacing a seamer and going with two of each type of bowler. Mohammad Shami could be the one to miss out. Rohit Sharma is set to remain on the sidelines.
Betting
As with the first Test I’ll go with just the one bet in this second match and just like in that opening encounter it is a performance bet on a West Indian fast bowler. I say fast bowler but in truth he is more an all-rounder as it is Jason Holder who I’m taking, a man who has a decent enough record on this ground to make me think he can cover 110.5pts over the course of the five days.
There was a green look to this pitch ahead of the game which is likely to be vital for him and so he should go well with the ball. He took 11 wickets on this ground against Bangladesh last year and prior to that he has made three 50s with the bat in just four Tests here and he was 33* last year and well on the way to another half century had he not run out of partners. If you split this down and put in his career batting average of 33 and change, if he only bats to that average we get to 66 so he’ll need a couple of wickets and a catch or three wickets to cover this line. A better than average day with bat or ball sees this covered with a good deal to spare. I’m on the over here.
Tips
WON – Back J.Holder’s Performance – Over 110.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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