When India and West Indies square up against one another on Wednesday in the first match of a two-Test series at the beautiful tropical backdrop of Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica, India will seek to extend West Indies’ 21 years of suffering.
The Caribbean cricket community has been rocked by the failure of the two-time winners to qualify for the World Cup, which will be held in India in October and November of this year. Kraigg Brathwaite’s Test side is not going to provide any relief to the Caribbean cricket community.
When the West Indies last triumphed over India in a Test match, it was in the year 2002.
This quick series, which will culminate in Trinidad the following week in what will be the 100th Test between the two nations, marks the beginning of the next two-year cycle leading up to the final of the World Test Championship, which will take place in 2025.
After being defeated by New Zealand in the first-ever final in 2021 and then by Australia in the 2023 finale just four weeks ago, Rohit Sharma’s team is set to display no more than three changes from the side that lost the new Test cricket extravaganza by 209 runs at The Oval. New Zealand won the first-ever final in 2021. Australia won the 2023 decider.
Ravichandran Ashwin, a spinning all-rounder who had the misfortune of being left out of the match against Australia a month ago, is expected to be given the opportunity to add to his already good record against the West Indies.
He has taken 60 wickets against these opponents in 11 Tests and has scored four of his five Test hundreds while averaging just over 50 with the bat. In addition, he has done this while maintaining a batting average of just over 50.
In general, fast bowlers have had little reason for optimism when playing at Windsor Park; but, the fact that this will be the venue’s first Test match since Pakistan’s historic victory in the series-deciding match in 2017 adds an air of mystery to the proceedings.
Despite the fact that they are an obvious underdog, and especially concerns about the ability of the batting line-up to cope with the Indian attack, West Indies batting legend Brian Lara — who is also the performance mentor for the team — is hopeful that the home side, and particularly the younger, inexperienced players, can offer more than a glimmer of encouragement at a time when cricketing is in a state of widespread gloom in the region.