Given all of the fanfare around Tendulkar's farewell, you'd almost be excused if you didn't realise that there was an actual Test series (or lets just say Test couplet given two Tests is not a series) to be played in a few days. In some senses both teams (and their captains) will be a bit relieved as it allows them to go under the radar mostly and focus on getting ready while the spotlight is squarely on the man its been on for the last two decades and more. The visitors have insisted they will not be distracted and the young Indian squad (the average age without Tendulkar is less than 27) will know that solid performances here will give them a long run in the potentially tougher away series against South Africa, New Zealand, and England coming up over the next nine or ten months. So though the matches are rather rushed, there's plenty to look forward to even apart from the master bidding adieu.
On paper, ie if you look at their respective ICC rankings, India should be firm favourites. Any sort of a win for India (or actually even a drawn series) will push India to second place behind the Springboks while even a 2-0 win for the West Indies (a margin unattained by any touring team since 2000) will not enable them to break into the top three. And while India should win if they play to potential, there are plenty of reasons for West Indies to hope. First, at least six of India's likely first choice XI would have come off a hectic ODI series against Australia where the bowlers confidence took a battering. Second, the West Indies are far better equipped in the spin bowling department than most other teams that tour India and while Shillingford and Permaul are not quite Swann and Panesar, they are a combination that could easily hurt any looseness on the part of Dhoni's men. Finally, the Carribean batting has not been this solid in a long time and the Indian bowling will have its work cut out to take twenty wickets. In the last few months, Zimbabwe have beaten Pakistan who have then beaten South Africa in turn in Test matches so Darren Sammy will believe his men can pull off an upset too.
No preview would be complete without a few predictions so here are my predicted first choice XIs for the two sides:
West Indies: Gayle, Powell, Bravo, Samuels, Chanderpaul, Deonarine, Ramdin, Sammy, Shillingford, Best, Roach
India: Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Sharma (R), Dhoni, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Ojha, Yadav
Personally I don't think those would be the best XIs and if I were skipper, I'd bring in Permaul instead of Best for the visitors and Mishra instead of Rohit Sharma for India. However I'm not skipper and the two men who hold that position are both pretty conservative if their past record is anything to go by. As for a result, that's hard to predict but I'm betting on a 1-0 win for India. As for key men, my predictions would be that Samuels and Roach will emerge as the best for the West Indies (with support from Chanderpaul) and Dhawan and Ojha for India (with support from Pujara and Bhuvneshwar). So there you have it, all punts out.
A final word on the two veterans who are the only two across both sides who've played Test match cricket in the 1990s. All the focus has been on the Indian of course, but Chanderpaul's arguably been even more critical (and still is) for the West Indies given how their batting has floundered in recent times. Their careers have almost been mirrors in some ways. Tendulkar carried the Indian batting for much of his cricketing youth but then got great support as the likes of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, and Ganguly blossomed. Chanderpaul on the other hand had the luxury of kicking off his career alongside Lara, Hooper, and Jimmy Adams but since their departures has had to shoulder much of the burden though there has been occasional support from Gayle and Sarwan. Since his last century (against SA in Jan 2011), Tendulkar has averaged just 31.8 in 37 innings. In that same period, Chanderpaul has racked up an average of 73.6 over 32 innings with six hundreds. Its likely that he will outscore Tendulkar again in these two games (especially given his affinity for India), but as usual will not get his fair share of the limelight. Tendulkar on the other hand will want to enjoy his last two games but he's a proud man so a team record will be more on his mind than his individual performances. During his career, he has seen a 35 year unbeaten run at home against Australia and a 27 year run against England come to an end. The West Indies have not beaten India in India in 30 years. Come November 18, Tendulkar will not want that to have changed whatever else happens. Hopefully Dhoni and co can ensure that it doesn't.
On paper, ie if you look at their respective ICC rankings, India should be firm favourites. Any sort of a win for India (or actually even a drawn series) will push India to second place behind the Springboks while even a 2-0 win for the West Indies (a margin unattained by any touring team since 2000) will not enable them to break into the top three. And while India should win if they play to potential, there are plenty of reasons for West Indies to hope. First, at least six of India's likely first choice XI would have come off a hectic ODI series against Australia where the bowlers confidence took a battering. Second, the West Indies are far better equipped in the spin bowling department than most other teams that tour India and while Shillingford and Permaul are not quite Swann and Panesar, they are a combination that could easily hurt any looseness on the part of Dhoni's men. Finally, the Carribean batting has not been this solid in a long time and the Indian bowling will have its work cut out to take twenty wickets. In the last few months, Zimbabwe have beaten Pakistan who have then beaten South Africa in turn in Test matches so Darren Sammy will believe his men can pull off an upset too.
No preview would be complete without a few predictions so here are my predicted first choice XIs for the two sides:
West Indies: Gayle, Powell, Bravo, Samuels, Chanderpaul, Deonarine, Ramdin, Sammy, Shillingford, Best, Roach
India: Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Sharma (R), Dhoni, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Ojha, Yadav
Personally I don't think those would be the best XIs and if I were skipper, I'd bring in Permaul instead of Best for the visitors and Mishra instead of Rohit Sharma for India. However I'm not skipper and the two men who hold that position are both pretty conservative if their past record is anything to go by. As for a result, that's hard to predict but I'm betting on a 1-0 win for India. As for key men, my predictions would be that Samuels and Roach will emerge as the best for the West Indies (with support from Chanderpaul) and Dhawan and Ojha for India (with support from Pujara and Bhuvneshwar). So there you have it, all punts out.
A final word on the two veterans who are the only two across both sides who've played Test match cricket in the 1990s. All the focus has been on the Indian of course, but Chanderpaul's arguably been even more critical (and still is) for the West Indies given how their batting has floundered in recent times. Their careers have almost been mirrors in some ways. Tendulkar carried the Indian batting for much of his cricketing youth but then got great support as the likes of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, and Ganguly blossomed. Chanderpaul on the other hand had the luxury of kicking off his career alongside Lara, Hooper, and Jimmy Adams but since their departures has had to shoulder much of the burden though there has been occasional support from Gayle and Sarwan. Since his last century (against SA in Jan 2011), Tendulkar has averaged just 31.8 in 37 innings. In that same period, Chanderpaul has racked up an average of 73.6 over 32 innings with six hundreds. Its likely that he will outscore Tendulkar again in these two games (especially given his affinity for India), but as usual will not get his fair share of the limelight. Tendulkar on the other hand will want to enjoy his last two games but he's a proud man so a team record will be more on his mind than his individual performances. During his career, he has seen a 35 year unbeaten run at home against Australia and a 27 year run against England come to an end. The West Indies have not beaten India in India in 30 years. Come November 18, Tendulkar will not want that to have changed whatever else happens. Hopefully Dhoni and co can ensure that it doesn't.
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