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Second Test: India gain WTC points, Windies some hope
India clinched the Test series 2-0 against West Indies, winning the second Test easily. KL Rahul excelled, while West Indies showed potential for improvement.
New Delhi: The rare Day 5 made a quick appearance on India’s home results list as the hosts quickly closed out the second Test and the series against West Indies at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Tuesday.
India needed 58 runs to win the match and they did that without much ado to take the series 2-0. KL Rahul continued his stellar season to notch up another fifty. The 33-year-old now has three 100s and three fifties in the year and his rich vein of form is a big positive for the Indian team. The series sweep also means India have four wins out of the seven Tests they have played in the World Test Championship cycle. The win percentage stands at 61.90 and around 70% will usually get a team into the WTC final.
The big positive for the world of cricket is the West Indies showing that there is perhaps still some fight left in them. The manner in which their batters tried to hang in there shows that with a little more effort, they can certainly start finding ways to compete again.
Their bowling, skipper Roston Chase believes, is pretty good but the problem has been the batting. But better shot selection will only come from playing more against the top teams and that is something that the Windies Board and the International Cricket Council need to figure out.
India coach Gautam Gambhir feels that WI will take a lot of confidence from their performance.
“I have always believed that world cricket needs West Indian cricket,” said Gambhir in the post-match press conference. “That is something which is very important, it was very nice to see them fight. They are an inexperienced team and there are a lot of changes that have happened there, but the way they fought in the second innings obviously will give them a lot of confidence.”
The other thing Gambhir felt the match needed was a wicket worthy of it.
“I thought that we could have had a better wicket here,” he said. “Yes, we did get the result on Day 5, but again, I think nicks need to carry. I think there has to be something for the fast bowlers as well. I know we keep talking about spinners playing an important role, but when you have got probably two quality fast bowlers in your ranks, we still want them to be in the game as well.
“And it is okay if there is not enough [turn], but there has to be carry. So, where we all saw [that] carry wasn’t there, [it] was a bit alarming. And I think going forward, [I hope] we can get better wickets in Test cricket, because all of us have the responsibility of keeping Test cricket alive. The first and foremost thing to keep Test cricket alive is playing on good surfaces.”
