Staff Writer – Archi
In the 1970s and 80s, West Indies were involved in many lopsided Test series. They were involved in another one this time, with the only difference being they ended up on the other side of the previous such series results.
A clinical India completed one of the most ruthless clean sweeps in recent times as they demolished a listless West Indies to clinch the two-match Test series 2-0 at home.
West Indies lost the first Test by an innings and 272 runs in Rajkot, Gujarat, and the next by 10 wickets in Hyderabad. And as poor advertisement for Test cricket, on both occasions the matches did not even last the whole five days.
Although the convincing series victory brought cheers across the India camp, many are afraid that it might raise false hopes ahead of the big away-series against Australia, which starts in Adelaide on December 6.
Out of the four innings in this series, West Indies couldn’t cross the 200-run mark thrice which was a testimony to their plight during the series.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side did an encore of 2013 series which India won by an identical margin in that year’s most lopsided contest with Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell taking limelight.
For India, it was their 10th series win at home since their last defeat against England way back in 2012.
West Indies captain Jason Holder conceded that the embarrassing back-to-back three-day defeats is “difficult to digest”, considering pitches were batsman-friendly.
“Honestly, it’s hard to take it. I am trying to understand the reasons why it is happening.”
Umesh Yadav. https://indianexpress.com
He admitted that batting has been an issue for them for quite some time now. “You can look and honestly say we didn’t put enough runs on the board. Quite for some time now, we’ve been relatively inconsistent and that has really let us down in the recent past. We haven’t been getting the runs we’ve been looking for,” he stated.
Kohli said the batsmen must keep delivering to compliment the good work of the bowlers.
“I’m really happy to see these guys fit and hungry. It’s up to the batsmen to do the rest of the job. I think this game was tougher for the batsmen. This first innings was more challenging than the last one (in Rajkot),” he said.
He was also all praise for Umesh Yadav, who became only the third Indian pacer to take 10 wickets in a Test at home. Ahead of the Australia series, he has given a selection headache to the team.
“If you look at the three new guys (Hanuma Vihari in England, Prithvi Shaw and Rishab Pant) who’ve come in, they’ve grabbed their opportunities. I think all these things are a big positive,” he stated.
West Indies were back to their worst despite showing signs of fight in the first innings of the second Test as they couldn’t last two full sessions and were bowled out for 127 in only 46.1 in their second innings.
The hosts chased down their 72-run winning target in just 16.1 overs in an extended final session to win by 10 wickets.
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