E-Paper
Team selection raises eyebrows
PORT OF SPAIN: By the time you will read this, India may be on top of West Indies for the umpteenth time this series. Inexperienced, unpredictable and sometimes
PORT OF SPAIN: By the time you will read this, India may be on top of West Indies for the umpteenth time this series. Inexperienced, unpredictable and sometimes almost non-committal, West Indies can’t be depended to give India a run for their money. But is this the best India team that could have played the fourth Test? It’s debatable. Dropping a spinner and replacing him with a batsman when India have had no real problem with the batting so far reeks of misjudgment. With rain already causing interruptions in the match, the last thing India needed was one bowler less to take 20 West Indies wickets.
The Queen’s Park Oval has had a history of providing the best spin assisting pitch in the West Indies. Off-spinner Lance Gibbs used to be the highest wicket taker here for a long time before Courtney Walsh and then finally Curtly Ambrose took over the tally. The best innings haul at this ground is still held by the little-known Jack Noreiga who had taken 9/95 against India in 1971. Both Virat Kohli and Jason Holder said the pitch looked ‘dry’ but then took completely contrasting decisions. Holder, the younger and inexperienced captain, dropped Alzarri Joseph to include Devendra Bishoo.
Kohli however dropped Ravindra Jadeja, whose miserly bowling helped in building pressure on batsmen in the St Lucia Test, in favour of Cheteshwar Pujara. This was apart from bringing in Mural i Vijay for Shikhar Dhawan. So effectively West Indies retained the number of bowlers but changed the composition. But India, rather Kohli, thought it would be better to go with just one spinner and get an extra batsman, contradicting his long-maintained stand of playing five frontline batsmen and five bowlers.
Kohli had hinted on having six bats men and four bowlers at home on Wednesday. But this is far from home. Interestingly, Rohit Sharma was retained. He did score 41 in the last innings but it was hardly as fluent as his one-day knocks. Dhawan has not been consistent but with him there is always this feeling that a knock that can run away with the game, is always around. With KL Rahul making himself indispensable, India might have to look at a situation where they could have to play him --- probably in the middle order---alongsideVi jay and Dhawan. But playing six batsmen can’t take precedence over having five bowlers if India are looking to win Tests abroad. Not only does it affect the balance of the team but the bowlers also have to share the work load more. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Pujara may have got back his place but Ash win has lost a bowling partner. Till now, Kohli has been pretty much bang on with his punts but this could be his most interesting gamble.
