India Vs West Indies: Will This Spinner Make The Cut In The 2nd Test? Find Out

Team India started their new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a bang as they decimated West Indies in the first Test within three days to go 1-0 up in the 2-match Test series. The action now shifts to Port of Spain for the 2nd Test. Ravichandran Ashwin was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball for India as he picked up 12 wickets in the match. Ravindra Jadeja, too, chipped in and, as such, the Indian management is considering including Axar Patel as the third spinner for the second Test match.

Spinners played a crucial role in the previous match, accounting for 20 out of the 24 wickets that fell, with Ashwin alone securing 12 of them (5/60 and 7/71). The pitch started offering assistance to spinners very early in the match and the West Indies could never offer any resistance to the Indian spinners.

Given the likelihood of similar conditions in Port of Spain, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma are now considering adding a third spinner in Axar Patel, who has proven himself on spin-friendly tracks. In his 12 Tests so far, Axar has already picked up 50 wickets at an average of 17.16, including five five-wicket hauls. His batting has also improved a lot and could offer a viable all-round option lower down the order.

As far as the pacers are concerned, Mohammed Siraj was good in the first Test and he got good support from Shardul Thakur. As such, Jaydev Unadkat could be the bowler to miss out if Axar is indeed included in the playing XI.

The management will, however, look at conditions closely before they take the final call on the playing XI. There are predictions of rain in Port of Spain leading up to the match on July 20, which might affect play on all days. Hence, the seamers could come in handy if the conditions remain moist and cloudy.

India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.