India eye clean sweep against struggling West Indies at Queen’s Park Oval

India started their latest WTC cycle with a thunderous win over West Indies as the latter were completely demolished in all the departments of the game. From being skittled out for 150 in the first innings, the hosts did very little with India running away to 421 in their first innings, only with half the side back in the hut.

Coming out to bat with a deficit of 271 runs, the Islanders were trampled over as the Indian bowlers knocked them out for 130 in the second innings.

However, things will be slightly different in the second game as there is a change of track and most importantly, the weather has been slightly on the inclement side that may occasionally see the heavens crack open with play halted for a while.

India would be hoping to inflict a clean sweep, a statement to their strengths and one that could act as the perfect catalyst for a comfortable path to the 2023-25 WTC Final. 

India could be expected to make a few changes in order to find the right balance between the youngsters and the experienced campaigners, particularly keeping in mind that a transition in the ranks has already started and it would need the right components for the puzzle to fall into place.

West Indies, on the contrary, do not have the luxury of experimenting at the moment. After crashing out of the World Cup qualifiers, their slope has further descended in a steeper line as the Indian forces have completely overwhelmed them in almost every department of the sport in the first Test.

With so much on their plates already, they would be hoping to see the big names in Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Jason Holder take the center stage while young names like Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva and Alzarri Joseph will be banked on to trouble the Indian unit.

Ground Watch:

Known as one of the most picturesque grounds to be used in international cricket, Queen’s Park Oval has hosted 61 Test matches so far. 20 of them have been won batting first while 18 of them have been won batting second. The average first innings score is a fine 302 wherein the second innings score sees a sharp jump with the number rising to 314. However, the third and the fourth innings get quite difficult to bat on as there is a sharp fall in the numbers with 168 being the average score in the last innings on the ground.

Stats:

Polly Umrigar holds the record for highest number of half-centuries as an Indian in Test cricket at Queen’s Park Oval with six fifties.

India’s numbers at Queen’s Park Oval aren’t exactly sublime as their biggest victory against West Indies in Test is 37 runs.

India have a 3-3 win-loss record in Test matches against West Indies at the venue while 10 matches have resulted in draws.

Srinivas Venkataraghavan is the highest wicket taker for India at Queen’s Park Oval in Tests with 19 scalps at an economy rate of 2.3.

Head to head:

Matches played: 99

India: 23

West Indies: 30

Draws: 46

Match Details:

Match: West Indies vs India

Venue: Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain

Date: 20th June, 2023

Time: 7:30 PM IST

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma (captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.

West Indies:

Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Jermaine Blackwood (vc), Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kirk McKenzie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Jomel Warrican, Reserves: Tevin Imlach, Akeem Jordan.