West Indies in India, 2018

[PKBasu]

Rahul is bowled, playing at a ball well away from his body. He was going to play at, withdrew his bat at the last moment, but only managed to play on to his stumps. He made 4 off 25 balls in that opening stand of 61. Shaw was 42 off 30 balls when Rahul was bowled by skipper Holder. He has moved on to 52* at lunch.
India are still struggling to find another opener to start the innings with Shaw in Australia.

[Sin Hombre]

Shaw got carried away a bit and gets dismissed with a loose shot, and Pujara soon follows.

India in trouble here and need Rahane to stand up for once.

[PKBasu]

Shaw is not as assured against spin as he is against pace. That proved his undoing, falling to Warrican on 70 (off the 53rd ball he faced). He also slashed at one outside off earlier (attempted square cut) that flew to first slip, but escaped. He had also played a similarly loose square cut at Rajkot off Bishoo. A bit of impetuosity got him today; you don't need to score this quickly in test cricket! When he was out, the score was 98/2, of which he had made 70, Rahul 4 and Pujara 9, the rest being Extras!

[PKBasu]

I'm so glad that Prithvi Shaw has played a couple of tests before the tour of Australia. I wish Mayank Agarwal had too.
It's amazing to learn that Shaw had already played in the Yorkshire League when he was 14 and for the Gloucestershire 2nd XI when he was 15: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... st-cricket
How I wish there could be similar foresight with some other sports in India. In retrospect, it really would have been good for him to have played the last two tests against England. Australia will be a very different challenge, although Shaw's back foot technique should help.

[PKBasu]

India in a spot of bother at tea! 173/4, still 138 behind.

Kohli fell for 45 to an angled ball from the Windies skipper. India has been undone by hubris here, and need a big contribution from the remaining batsmen -- Rahane, Pant, Jadeja and Ashwin. Kuldeep too is capable of scoring runs, and will hopefully put up a fight with the bat. The wicket is likely to turn from tomorrow, so India need a lead of at least 100 -- so the rest of the batting needs to make another 240 runs.

[Atithee]

Shaw and Pant showing the futility of letting the old baggage hang on and on. In a country like India where there is no dearth of upcoming talent, so much talent withers away due to barnacles growing on dead wood.

[PKBasu]

Solid, patient innings from Pant, apart from a caught behind chance off Gabriel (when he was in his 20s) off Gabriel.

[PKBasu]

Rahane has earned his ticket to Australia with this dogged effort that got his side out of trouble. That Bishoo is incapable of bowling a decent googly helped a great deal.

[ankit1407]

Pathetic selection to not use this opportunity to give Mayank and Siraj test debut..

[Sin Hombre]

Solid, patient innings from Pant, apart from a caught behind chance off Gabriel (when he was in his 20s) off Gabriel.

Bit chancy until 40 or so; with couple more catches just falling short of the fielder.

[prasen9]

Shaw and Pant showing the futility of letting the old baggage hang on and on. In a country like India where there is no dearth of upcoming talent, so much talent withers away due to barnacles growing on dead wood.

All these so-called talent can bat against the weaker bowling attacks in India. So, who is the deadwood you are thinking of? The problem with Pant is not the batting. He is possibly the most talented batting wicket-keeper batsman *ever* for India. But, how much do we give up because of his stiff wicket-keeping and what is its cost? There was no point playing Karthik as we did in the first test in India. But, I would take both Pant and Saha to Australia if Saha is fit. Or Bharat, who is perhaps the best keeper after Saha in India. Abroad, our bowlers can barely get 20 wickets in a match unless the pitch is assisting bowlers and in that case our batsmen fold up under 200. On decent pitches, asking our bowlers to get 24 wickets is possibly not work the extra (even) 30 runs Pant may give abroad.

Playing this Windies attack in India is possibly easier than facing domestic attacks in Ranjis. So, it does not say much about Shaw either. So, I agree with PKB that Shaw should have been tried in England. I wanted Mayank also to be tried here just to get his nerves away by facing cupcakes from WI.

The real test will come in Australia. I would say Shaw is good provided he does half-decently there. Let us see.

[prasen9]

Rahul's batting as an opener has been acceptable overall, but can he bat outside India? In Australia, England, and RSA, he has averaged 25. His away average is 33, mainly on the backs of runs on slow pitches in the Windies. Of course, we have the same questions about everyone but Kohli and to some extent Rahane. The Australia series will separate some (more) of the wheat from the chaff.

Vijay, interestingly, got some form back in English FC cricket. But given that he has at most 2-3 years left, it may be better to try Mayank and see whether he cuts it. Of course, if the calculation is that we want to win now in Australia and have a good chance, maybe Vijay can be considered. There are not any proven commodities on our batting side and everyone is a gamble (except Kohli) that we need to take and see how they do.

[Sin Hombre]

Pant's wicketkeeping is only really an issue when keeping to the spinners.

And this is not a terrible WI attack (the one playing in this test). Holder with 2 quick wickets (including a second ball Jadeja duck) and Windies are right back in it. Ashwin escapes with a umpire's call first ball.

[PKBasu]

Falling like nine pins this morning. 322/7 and the match is evenly balanced now. Good bowling with the new ball, but Rahane and Pant should have pushed on. Time for Ashwin and Kuldeep to hunker down and get some runs. Superb stuff from skipper Holder though.

[prasen9]

Pant's wicketkeeping is only really an issue when keeping to the spinners.

That is true but not true fully. Because of his stiff movements, he gives up a lot of byes. While that is not as bad as a dropped catch, it can be crucial in low scoring matches.

And this is not a terrible WI attack (the one playing in this test). Holder with 2 quick wickets (including a second ball Jadeja duck) and Windies are right back in it. Ashwin escapes with a umpire's call first ball.

This is a weak WI attack. They basically have two bowlers. Holder and Gabriel are good bowlers. Gabriel was a shade unfit. Most of the major international teams will have much better attacks than this one. Rahul, Rahane, Pant, Shaw all were out because they tried to play expansive shots. Of course, the ball has to move for these shots to be bad shots.

The real test for Pant and Shaw will be in Australia.

56 run lead. I would have wanted at least 75. Oh well.