Team India could be on the verge of winning the ongoing Test series against West Indies, irrespective of the result of the second game in Port of Spain, Trinidad, however, the visiting team is facing criticism for their approach. Despite facing a weaker opponent than Australia, England or South Africa, Team India have played good old Test cricket, spending their time at the crease without any haste.
While in the first Test, the Indian batsmen started the day scoring only 232 runs on the second day with 10 wickets in hand, their pace slowed down in the second game after a brisk start by the openers, captain Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rohit and Jaiswal’s middle order partnership was 139 runs in less than 32 overs. Virat Kohli, Ravindra JadejaR Ashwin supported everyone and helped India reach 438 runs.
The score may be big, but the team has to bear the brunt of taking 128 overs to score so many runs against a team like West Indies. Indian actor Nakuul Mehta Twitterati during the match said that teams like England and Australia look hungrier than Rohit Sharma & Co., while referring to the fact that India scored 288/4 on the first day.
Mehta wrote on Twitter, “The current Indian Test performance against the Windies is proof that we are a long way away from winning the ICC Championship. The English and Australian teams are very hungry right now, while we managed to score a modest 280 all day against a very weak bowling line-up.”
Since the disruption caused by buzzballs in Test cricket for the last 12 months or so, the need to move forward rather than copy what England is doing has become the need of the hour. Yes, it can be said that India is missing its X-factor in the form of Rishabh Pant, who was playing baseball even before the term was coined. But a lack of intent and an inability to move the scorecard at a reasonable rate and waiting for things to happen has appeared often in the two matches and fans, spectators and experts will be hoping that changes in December in the Rainbow Nation.