Revision as of 23:06, 20 October 2018

India vs. West Indies: in the World Cup(1979-2011) Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

History

A brief overview: till 2016

India vs West Indies: What the statistics say, October 4, 2018: The Times of India

Though India are strong favourites against the West Indies despite their recent Test series defeat in England, the Virat Kohli-led side cannot afford to be complacent as the Jason Holder-led West Indies will be heading into the series on the back of a successful home season where they drew a Test series against Sri Lanka and then drubbed Bangladesh 2-0.

It will be West Indies' first India tour since the Caribbean side abandoned their 2014 trip due to a players' pay dispute with their national cricket board.

India have the perfect opportunity to find a solution to their top-order batting woes before their year-end series in Australia.

Here's a look at some of the statistics between India and West Indies in Test cricket:

MATCHES IN INDIA

Tests: 45

Won by India: 11

Won by West Indies: 14

Draws: 20

OVERALL

Tests: 94

Won by India: 18

Won by West Indies: 30

Draws: 46

MOST RUNS (OVERALL)

Sunil Gavaskar: 2749

MOST HUNDREDS (OVERALL)

Sunil Gavaskar: 13

MOST WICKETS (OVERALL)

Kapil Dev: 89

MOST FIVE-WICKET HAULS IN AN INNINGS (OVERALL)

Malcolm Marshall: Six

2013-14: Indian victories

INDIA'S LAST 5 WINS OVER WI

RUCHIR MISHRA The Times of India Mar 04 2015

A PERFECT GAME

DHARAMSALA (OCT 17, 2014)

India 330-6 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 127, Suresh Raina 71, Ajinkya Rahane 68) beat West Indies 271 in 48.1 overs (Marlon Samuels 112; Bhuvneshwar 2-25, Axar 2-26) by 59 runs.SUMMARY: Led by a superb top-order show, India posted a massive total on the board, maintaining a good run rate throughout and had partnerships right till the end. Then, the new ball bowlers struck early blows and that proved decisive despite a fightback by Samuels and Russell.LESSONS: Early strikes by pacers let the spinners dictate terms during the middle overs.

ESCAPE TO VICTORY

DELHI (OCT 11, 2014)

India 263-7 in 50 overs (Kohli 62, Raina 62, Dhoni 51*; Jerome Taylor 3-54) beat West Indies 215 in 46.3 overs (Dwayne Smith 97, Kieron Pollard 40; Md Shami 4-36, Ravindra Jadeja 3-44) by 48 runs.SUMMARY: It was a case of the opposition gifting the game rather than India winning it. West Indies were under control for most of the match while chasing 264 till they goofed up during the Powerplay. They lost two set batsmen when they needed just a run a ball. Then, Shami and Jadeja ran through the middle and lower order.LESSONS: One of the top-order batsmen should anchor the innings to help India post a big total.

SHIKHAR SHINES

KANPUR (NOV 27, 2013)

West Indies 263-5 in 50 overs (Samuels 71, Kieran Powell 70, Darren Bravo 51; R Ashwin 2-45) lost to India 266-5 in 46.1 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 119, Yuvraj Singh 55).SUMMARY: A perfect game for India where they did most of the things right. On a good batting surface, they restricted the opposition to a manageable score. The pacers didn't take early wickets but didn't go for runs and the spinners suffocated the middle order. Despite losing two early wickets, India chased down the target with ease as Dhawan anchored the innings with a brilliant ton.LESSONS: Instead of leaving it for others, a set batsman should finish the job.

SPINNERS TO THE FORE

KOCHI (NOV 21, 2013)

West Indies 211 in 48.5 overs (Darren Bravo 59; Jadeja 3-37, Raina 3-34) lost to India 2124 in 35.2 overs (Kohli 86, Rohit Sharma 72) by six wickets.SUMMARY: Indian spinners pulled it back after some wayward spells from fast bowlers. West Indies struggled to get going against the slower bowlers and fell way short of a competitive total. With a sensible second-wicket stand, India chased the down the target with ease.LESSON: The spinners may also have an off day and in that case, India can give away too many runs as the pacers could be profligate.

KOHLI SPECIAL

PORT OF SPAIN (JULY 5, 2013)

India 311-7 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 102, Shikhar Dhawan 69; Rohit Sharma 46; Tino Best 2-51) beat West Indies (Revised target: 274 in 39 overs) 171 in 34 overs (Jonathan Charles 45; Bhuvneshwar 3-29, Umesh Yadav 3-32) by 102 runs (DL method).SUMMARY: Indian top order did a decent job after being put in bowler friendly conditions and despite the middle-order collapse, India managed to cross the 300-run mark, thanks largely to Kohli's responsible hundred. Indian pacers utilised the conditions better than their West Indian counterparts and the hosts were never in game while chasing.

LESSONS: Indian batsmen should be careful during the batting powerplay.

They almost frittered away a great start.

Test matches

Rajkot test: India won by an innings, 272 runs

Gaurav Gupta, India Romp To Their Biggest Test Win As Windies Hit Rock Bottom In Rajkot, October 7, 2018: The Times of India

Scoreboard: West Indies- India, cricket, Test matches, Rajkot: 2018
From: Gaurav Gupta, India Romp To Their Biggest Test Win As Windies Hit Rock Bottom In Rajkot, October 7, 2018: The Times of India

“I had expected a defeat, but not this badly. It’s disappointing. This wicket wasn’t that bad to bat on, but we got out twice on it in 98.5 overs. In the years gone by, that pitch would have turned after the first half an hour. This is it, we’ve hit rock bottom,” lamented former West Indies captain Carl Hooper moments after watching his team crash to a hugely embarrassing innings and 272-run defeat, within three days, at the SCA Stadium here.

Hooper was right. Even by their rapidly deteriorating standards, the reckless way in which the West Indies batted after following-on and conceding an ocean-sized lead of 468 runs in the first innings, left everyone surprised. It was the biggest Test win for India ever, while for the hapless West Indians, this was their second-worst defeat in Test cricket.

Playing as if they were auditioning for the IPL, the players from the Caribbeans were bowled out for 181 in the second innings, ‘slogged’ their way to 196 in the second, taking just 50.5 overs to fold up. For two consecutive Tests at home now, India have played and thrashed absolutely listless teams. In June, they blasted out debutants Afghanistan by an innings & 262 runs inside two days in Bangalore.

How such ridiculously one-sided contests will help attract crowds in Test cricket — a perennial problem with the five day format — is a question which needs to be taken seriously by the BCCI, the broadcaster, and everyone concerned with the game. Even as the visitors put up an apology of a show, India did manage to collect a few positives for themselves. Recovering from a forgettable outing against England in the Lord’s Test, where he went for 44 runs in nine overs without taking a wicket, chinaman Kuldeep bagged his maiden fivewicket haul in Test cricket — taking 5/57 in the second innings, something which may help him re-discover selfbelief in the longest format.

Mumbai’s young opener Prithvi Shaw, who cracked 134 on his Test debut, achieved a rare distinction of being named Man of the Match in his first game itself. Rishabh Pant dropped a couple of catches on Saturday, but his attacking 92 shows India have a potentially explosive batsman in Tests at No. 6.

Resuming at 94/6, the West Indies seemed to be improving on their shoddy show on Day Two, as Roston Chase (53; 79b, 8x4), and Keemo Paul (47; 49b, 7x4, 2x6) added 98 for the seven wicket. Both swept the spinners well before the partnership was broken by Umesh Yadav, who got Paul out hooking. It was a smart piece of captaincy from Virat Kohli, who moved Pujara to midwicket before Yadav hurled a short ball.

Soon after getting to his sixth Test fifty, Chase was dropped by Pant off Ashwin, but the bowler didn’t have to agonize much as he had his man in his next over. Chase went for a big drive, stretched his bat way beyond his body, and inside-edged a turning delivery from Ashwin on to his stumps. You felt for debutant Shermon Lweis when Ashwin unleashed a carrom ball which left the tailender completely bamboozled.

Pant dropped another catch, this time off Devendra Bishoo off Ravindra Jadeja, but bounced back with a good stumping of Shannon Gabriel, after Ashwin had flicked a carom ball. Ashwin finished with 4/37 in the first innings.

The sole bright spot for West Indies in the second innings was left-handed opener Kieron Powell, who chose attack as the best form of defence while smashing his way to 83 off 83 balls (8x4, 4x6) against a strong attack.

Hyderabad test: India won second Test by 10 wickets

JAC Gladson, Umesh Yadav’s 10-Wicket Haul Helps India Win 2nd Test By 10 Wickets To Register 10th Successive Series Win At Home, October 15, 2018: The Times of India

Scoreboard: West Indies vs India- cricket- Test matches- Hyderabad: 2018-II
From: JAC Gladson, Umesh Yadav’s 10-Wicket Haul Helps India Win 2nd Test By 10 Wickets To Register 10th Successive Series Win At Home, October 15, 2018: The Times of India

It’s a rare feat, an Indian fast bowler winning a Test match on Indian soil. Umesh Yadav’s 10 for 133 was stouthearted as it triggered another three-day rout of Windies, marked by a pathetic display of Test match batting.

In engineering a spectacular collapse that lasted a mere 46.1 overs and saw Windies roll over for 127 on Sunday, Umesh ensured a meagre target of 72 runs that India achieved to win the second Test by 10 wickets and the series 2-0 – their 10th straight series win at home since losing to England in 2012. Prithvi Shaw and KL Rahul applied the finishing touches as the hosts ended up with 75 without loss.

All credit to Umesh for his brilliant charge that made him the third Indian quick to bag a 10-for on home soil after Kapil Dev did it twice and Javagal Srinath once. The 19,164 faithful who congregated at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium took home plenty of happy memories and none better than the three deliveries of Umesh that Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich and Shannon Gabriel dragged on to the stumps for returns of four for 45.

The Indian spearhead missed the hat-trick twice in the day. On the first occasion, the split hat-trick was averted by Kragg Brathwaite and the second time by Jason Holder with Chase in the mix both times. The Chase-Holder duo had revived the visitors’ first innings with their 104-run stand for the seventh wicket but there was to be no repeat act as Windies were staring down the barrel by then, thanks in the main to Umesh.

Working up tidy pace, the right arm quick posed questions for which the Windies batsmen had no answers. Rattled first up by a yorker that nearly cannoned into his stumps, Brathwaite succumbed to the very next delivery, glancing Umesh only to see Rishabh Pant come up with a fine catch.

Windies were 56 runs in the red and worse was in store as offie R Ashwin maintained the stranglehold with a beautiful first spell of 6-2-13-1 that accounted for Kieran Powell, smartly pouched by Ajinkya Rahane at slip. Runs were hard to come by – Windies got their first off the 17th delivery – and two soon became three and four as Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope fell in the space of four deliveries. Their only hope of surviving the day rested on Holder. The Windies captain was a picture of calm despite the carnage around him and in Sunil Ambris found an ally with a common task: delay the inevitable.

Ravindra Jadeja had other ideas, though. Ian Gould failed to spot a faint edge off Holder’s bat. But the review went in India’s favour. The hosts had reason for more joy soon after the 38-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Holder and Ambris was terminated, the latter too was trapped in front, a straightforward decision which the batsman reviewed unsuccessfully.

It was just a matter of time before the Windies folded up in less than two sessions after India were dismissed 15 minutes into the extended first session. India’s hopes of a big lead rested on their overnight pair of Rahane (80; 259min, 183b, 4x7) and Pant (92; 203min, 134b, 4x11, 6x2). But the former failed to keep down a Shannon Gabriel delivery that reared up from a length and the latter once again failed to complete his century. Despite Ashwin’s defiance for 119 minutes in scoring 35 and Shardul Thakur batting on one leg, India had to settle for 367 thanks to Holder’s five for 56, much less than they expected after starting the third day on 308 for four.

The lead of 56 runs proved adequate to pummel the Windies into submission. Ashwin (2/24), Jadeja (3/12) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/45) played their part too.