With India winning the first Test match by 5 wickets, the focus now shifts to the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The centre of attention still remains on Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th century which has been coming for over 8 months now. But the cricket buffs believe that it will happen at the Eden, the ground which the Master himself called ‘the home of cricket’. On the other hand, West Indies will look to use this distraction to their favour and pull off an upset win.
2nd Test: Spotlight shifts to Eden Gardens
The Indian team has made no changes to their 15-man squad and Harbhajan Singh who was dropped due to poor form, still remains on the sidelines. Rahul Sharma, the rookie leg spinner still retains his place in the squad though it is not likely that he will get a chance to play in the second Test. Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin came up with a creditable bowling display in the First test and the duo are sure to retain their places in the side despite their inexperience.
The Indian batting will most probably remain unchanged as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh coming back from injury layoffs showed no signs of discomfort in the first Test at Kotla. The West Indies on the other hand have a lot of issues to be concerned about. Their batting failed to click as the team seems almost entirely dependent on Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Kraigg Brathwaite, Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards are overdue for a good performance.
The West Indies bowling though causes less of a worry as they came good on a sluggish Kotla track with Captain Darren Sammy and Devendra Bishoo bowling well in tandem. Darren Sammy has impressed one and all as he exceeded expectations as a leader and performer in the Delhi Test. Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul did reasonably good work with the ball but failed to step it up once they got an Indian wicket. If West Indies want to bowl out the Indian batsmen, a collective inspired effort is required.
What caused the Windies to lose in the first Test was their very defensive game play as they allowed India to come back and get the better of them. Darren Sammy and Shivnarine Chanderpaul seem their anchors and the others need to play around them. The Indians on the other hand need to shift their attention from all the razzmatazz surrounding Sachin’s ton and look to cut down on their mistakes and play more convincingly.
Tags: 2nd Test, Cricket, Eden Gardens, India, Kolkata, Live Cricket Score, Live Streaming, Test Cricket, West Indies
