India ended their West Indies tour on a high. They beat West Indies comprehensively in the two-test series. Virat Kohli overtook MS Dhoni and became the skipper with the most number of wins under his belt. West Indies were not up to the task of facing the Indian attack. In both the tests, their batting crumbled. Their bowlers also failed to contain the Indian middle order.

Kohli himself did not have a very successful test series, though in the one-day matches he hit two centuries. In his last innings, he was dismissed for a blob from the first ball he faced.

NDTV has reported that India won the second test and series by thrashing the West Indies by 257 runs.

India win

The Indian victory over the West Indies was a foregone conclusion. This is the weakest West Indies team in the last three decades. The victory by itself cannot be considered a real test of Indian Cricket potency.

Team selection

Some of the selections made by Kohli raised eyebrows. The eminent Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar commented that he could not understand how a gifted spinner like Ashwin was left out of the team. Many others also felt the exclusion of Rohit Sharma from the test playing eleven was perhaps for reasons other than cricketing ability.

Rohit has been in sublime form with five centuries in the World Cup and yet could not find a place in the Indian team. It is difficult to understand why Kohli preferred KL Rahul in the team. Rahul's contribution was poor and one wonders why Kohli persisted with him.

One cannot delve into the mind of the Indian Skipper but he made a similar whimsical selection against England two years back.

He dropped Karun Nair after the batsman hit a triple century (303 not out). This is the highest score ever against England in eight decades of test cricket. The dropping of Nair dented the confidence of the young man. The result was that when he was given a chance after a few months, he failed to click.

Earlier days

The Indian test team is on a high.

Despite having been knocked out of the World Cup buy New Zealand, India remain a formidable test playing team. The victory over the West Indies is particularly sweet as for almost four decades the Indian team from 1948 to 1990 could not beat the West Indies. That was the time of great West Indies players like Garfield Sobers and the three W's; Walcott, Weeks and Worrell. They were supported by an array of fast bowlers, the like of which the world has not seen.

The West Indies are a shadow of their old self and their batsman do not have the dedication and technique of the veterans. This came to the fore in the present home series against India.Despite having the advantage of preparing wickets to their liking the West Indies batting and bowling failed to click.

The Indian team had an easy outing and won without much opposition. The role of Jasprit Bumrah in this victory was significant.

Future

India leads the standing in the points table in the World Test Championship for test cricket. This is reported by the Indian Express.

India will face South Africa in a home series. One of the Indian experts on ESPN, the old-time pace bowlers Ashish Nehra commented that it would be a good idea after the failures of Rahul to give Rohit Sharma a chance as an opening batsman. Ravi Shastri, the Indian coach will have to be more assertive and ensure that team selection is not at the whim of Kohli.
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