As India begins the second Test of the 2023–2025 World Test Championship cycle in Port of Spain on Thursday, they will be wondering how many days the Test match is going to last. The first Test in Dominica was wrapped up in under three days, and India dished out an absolute hammering to the West Indies, with the Indian bowlers led by Ravichandran Ashwin tying up the Caribbeans in a knot.
Spinners and top order dismantle opposition
West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was on record stating his team let themselves down with poor batting and shot selection. And it was exactly that particular aspect that makes the West Indies vulnerable again at Port of Spain with the likes of the marauding Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on the prowl.
On slow wickets of the Caribbean, the Indian spinners, with their turn, bounce, and guile, can be a handful, and that is what has transpired so far. The West Indies batsmen have struggled to come to terms with the line the Indian spinners are bowling and are unable to get their shot selection right.
India have hardly faced any problems in the first Test, with almost all the boxes ticking for them. Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal made a dream debut in Test cricket with his epic 171, while skipper Rohit Sharma struck a ton as well.
Virat Kohli’s 76 would have given him a lot of confidence, although he was not exactly at his fluent best and was also aided by some poor fielding from the West Indies.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane would probably be the only disappointed man as he could only muster three runs and would be desperately looking to get a big score, maybe a hundred, in the second Test. Rahane is on his comeback and although there would not be any knee-jerk reactions from the management or selectors, the Mumbai player would know that he has to come up with a big one.
And no better opportunity for any Indian batsmen to get big scores than this outing against this West Indies team.
Quality of Test cricket
Although it’s Test match cricket that we are talking about here, and two recognised outfits, India and West Indies, the quality of cricket has been way too one-sided and abysmal at times.
With all the debate and discussion regarding the future and health of Test cricket, three-day and two-day Test matches are signalling the death knell.
In a time and age where T20 cricket is the flavour and limited overs cricket is the preferred format for audiences and broadcasters, Test cricket faces a real challenge.
India is the biggest drawcard in world cricket and if Test matches featuring India can get boring and dreary owing to the mismatch between teams, then it’s an area that needs to be looked at.
Decline of West Indies cricket is a concern for the game
The health of West Indies cricket is extremely important for the survival of Test cricket. They have fallen to pitiable standards from the heady heights of the 1970s and 1980s when they dominated and lorded over world cricket.
This West Indies team is not even a patch on those invincible sides that devastated opposition in the 80s and that team provided a spectacle for Test cricket that the format seriously lacks.
Sports broadcasting was still in its infancy, and social media was completely absent, but if today’s media scene was prevalent during the peak of West Indies Test cricket, that would have provided a glimpse of what Test cricket was and could be in its pomp.
With all due respect to the West Indies players, this team would probably struggle against India’s top Ranji Trophy outfits as well. The likes of Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood etc have all been at sea while playing this well-oiled Indian Test team that itself was without the services of some its key bowlers.
With teams having to strictly adhere to Future Tours Programme (FTP) commitments, the Indian team would not have the option of skipping the Test leg of this tour as FTP schedules are made way in advance.
However, much is left to be desired in terms of where Test cricket is going with its future and especially where West Indies cricket is headed. Totally one-sided and lopsided Test matches are the last thing we want when there is ‘Bazball’ happening at the other end, and India-Australia Test matches tend to be exciting and intriguing as well.
Test cricket is dying, except for a couple of rivalries that keep it afloat and the financial muscle of the Indian cricket economy.
