WI vs Ind, 3rd Cricket Test: Match Preview

St. Lucia: Playing a draw in the second Test alright but still India will be in the commanding position when it goes to the third cricket Test match against the struggling West Indies on Tuesday. The match will be played at the Darren Sammy National Cricket stadium which is being named after Windies limited overs skipper.

WI batsman Roston Chase's unbeaten knock of 137 off 269 balls made India clueless in the last face-off. When Indian bowlers were in a dominant phase, he came and took away the pressure saving his team from almost a certain defeat though about one hundred overs were lost to rains in the match.

Leading with 1-0, Indian team may go for few changes in the third Test match.

India-

• Left arm leg spinner Ravindra Jadeja could be brought in for Amit Mishra after his rather lacklustre bowling on the last day of second test match.
• Shami Ahmed has so far remained unpredictable for the Caribbean’s with his menacing spells.
• Ashwin has already two five-wicket hauls to his credit in two matches. He is expected to continue his brilliance both with the ball and the bat.
• Other pace bowlers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have also done well so far forcing Bhuvnesh Kumar to sit in the reserve.
• Coming to batting unit, Opener Murali Vijay, who faced thumb injury in the first Test match, may miss another game.
• Opening in place of Vijay, Lokesh Rahul has used the given chance quite skilfully by hitting an awe-inspiring ton.
• Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are the major charms of the batting side.
• Dhawan, Saha and Pujara still need to prove their ground in the remaining two Tests.

West Indies-

• With lower middle order and tail lenders scoring most runs, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder have set the example for the openers and upper middle order batsmen.
• Windies batsmen Kraigg Brathwaite, Rajendra Chandrika, Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels have to come up with some attacking Cricket which suits them the best.
• Windies batsmen have struggled mainly in stroke playing.
• Excluding Roston Chase’s five-wicket haul in the second Test match, no other WI bowler has impressed so far in the series.
• Spinner Devendra Bishoo, who was expected to stun Indians, is himself seen bewildered in front of boisterous batting performances of the Virat Kohli unit.

According to experts, the pitch is likely to be batting friendly and may support spinners a bit.

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