By IANS,
Bridgetown (Barbados): India will back themselves to clinch the Test series against West Indies when the second Test begins here Tuesday on a lively Kensington Oval pitch.
India won the first Test by 63 runs at Kingston, Jamaica. The only time they were in trouble in the match was on the first day when they were 85 for six. Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh dug India out of it with half centuries. From there on the visitors took control of the match, wrapping it up with a day to spare. Rahul Dravid scored his 32nd century in the second innings and was instrumental in India’s comfortable win.
The bowlers did their job and all of them contributed with wickets. Praveen Kumar was lethal with the swing and Ishant Sharma extracted whatever little pace and bounce the slow surface had to offer.
He will be raring to bowl here with the pitch expected to be helpful to the pacers.
It could prove to be memorable game for Harbhajan Singh as he is just four wickets away from 400 Test wickets.
“It’s important that pacers adapt themselves for on a wicket with more bounce, they need to bowl fuller to get bowled and lbw dismissals. Length will be the absolute key,” said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
He had a close look at the pitch after a training session Sunday and said he would like to go in with three seamers and one spinner.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra will be making way for Munaf Patel, who has recovered from his elbow injury. Ishant and Praveen will be the other two pacers while Harbhajan will be the lone spinner.
“Ishant has played a lot of Test matches and knows what to do to different batsmen. He is one of our main bowlers and forms an ideal combination with Praveen Kumar.”
Dhoni also lauded Harbhajan for his batting abilities.
“He is close to the landmark of 100 Tests. He leads the spinners pack and has also done very well in batting. He is a good, aggressive character to have and when you need a breakthrough, you always find Bhajji there eager to provide one for the team,” said Dhoni.
This Indian team have done well in fast pitches of Australia and South Africa and the strip here should not pose a problem for the batsmen.
West Indies, on the other hand, will have much ground to cover, if they harbour hopes of coming back into the three-match series.
Batting has been their main worry. None of the batsmen showed patience and application required at the top level.
Opener Adrian Barath, who scored a quick half century in the first innings at Jamaica, was the only one to take on the opposition bowlers.
The absence of Chris Gayle, who is still being ignored by the selectors, will be felt.
Veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan will have to play with maturity and take on the batting responsibility. Talented Darren Bravo, who is in the habit of throwing away his wicket, also need to show patience in building the innings.
Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo was one of the positive for West Indies in the first Test, finishig with a seven-wicket haul.
West Indies may also make some changes. Batsman Marlon Samuels, who sat out of the first Test, is likely to replace Brendan Nash.
India won the ODI series 3-2 and if they can wrap up the Test, they will for the first time win both the ODI and Test series in the Caribbean.
The record is not in India’s favour though. They have never beaten West Indies in eight Test matches here. They drew in 1971 and since then have lost five successive Tests on this ground.