After a month’s break following their loss to Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final, Rohit Sharma’s men are back on the road. A fresh WTC cycle beckons and even if the final is scheduled for 2025 in England, the maiden steps would commence once India takes on the West Indies in the first match of the two-Test series at Windsor Park in Roseau from Wednesday. The Caribbean tour also includes three ODIs and five T20Is and presents an opportunity for a squad in transition to check whether the young players have the mettle to step into the weather-beaten shoes of their seniors. During the halcyon days of the West Indies, a stint there offered glimpses at greatness like Sunil Gavaskar did with a whopping 774 runs in his debut series in 1971. Cut to the present, the West Indies is a pale shadow of its former self. Except for sporadic brilliance in T20Is, this is a unit that tugs at nostalgia while faltering in performance. Kraigg Brathwaite’s men in Test whites need to punch above their weight against a strong opposition. The failure to qualify for the conventional 50-over World Cup later this year in India is another blemish that the men from the Caribbean have to make amends for.
If reclaiming lost glory remains the arduous task for the host, the visitor meanwhile has to figure out the road ahead. The winds of change that swept away Cheteshwar Pujara still linger in the air and for men such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, there is an opportunity to prove that they belong at the highest level. Pujara stepping in for Rahul Dravid at number three and Virat Kohli occupying Sachin Tendulkar’s slot at four, sustained Indian cricket for close to a decade. And now with Pujara dropped and Kohli closer to the twilight, the team management needs to place the vital cogs in order. That Rohit, Ajinkya Rahane, Kohli, R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are bunched together in their mid-thirties means that transition cannot be avoided. The fact that Rohit and Kohli did not find a place in the T20 team under Hardik Pandya hints that the selectors can remain unsentimental. With the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the West Indies and the United States next year, Pandya’s troops will get a preview of the playing conditions. Be it the batters or the bowlers led by spearhead Mohammed Siraj, the coming weeks offer a chance to step up and offer hope. It helps that the rivals are equally searching for crucial answers.
