India eye Windies boost ahead of Australia tour

NEW DELHI: Stung by defeat in England and heading to Australia for a tough tour next month, India will look for some confidence-boosting home victories against the West Indies from Thursday (tomorrow).

The number one Test side and the winner of last week’s Asia Cup start as favourites against the eighth-ranked West Indies in the series of two Tests, five One-day Internationals and three twenty20 games.

“West Indies doesn’t have a team to compete against India. They don’t stand a chance at all,” veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh told AFP ahead of the first Test in Rajkot starting on Thursday.

But India may not find it so easy, with series defeats this year in England and South Africa revealing some serious chinks in India’s armour, at least away from home.India, under talismanic captain Virat Kohli, have new faces in uncapped batsman Mayank Agarwal and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj.

Siraj will bolster the pace attack led by Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav who could trouble the relatively young West Indian batting line-up.Meanwhile spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are a formidable force on home turf.

The Jason Holder-led West Indies are arriving off the back of a successful home season where they drew a Test series against Sri Lanka and then drubbed Bangladesh 2-0.

Batsman Sunil Ambris has already made his case for a place in the team XI after his unbeaten 114 in the tourists’ only warm-up game in India.

The erstwhile cricket powerhouse have been bolstered by the return of experienced quick bowler Kemar Roach who will join fellow pacemen Holder and Shannon Gabriel.

“We have played some really good cricket in recent times. Quite a few of our guys stood out individually and we have to keep that collective strength,” Holder was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper.

“India is the number one Test team. They have played some good cricket despite their last series (against England). It will be a good test for us,” Holder, captain in 26 of his 34 Tests so far, said.

Holder also said that leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo could prove to be key on turning Indian tracks.“He has been around for a while and doing well. The conditions could favour him a bit more here. We expect him to come into play in this series and be a match-winner,” he said of Bishoo.

It will be West Indies’ first India tour since the Caribbean side abandoned their 2014 trip due to a players’ pay dispute with the national cricket board.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Lokesh Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur

West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich (wicketkeeper), Shannon Gabriel, Jahmar Hamilton, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Sherman Lewis, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican, Alzarri Joseph