No place for Agarwal, India name unchanged 12 for 2nd West Indies Test

Captain Virat Kohli had made the announcement of naming a 12-man shortlisted team ahead of every home Test

Mayank Agarwal will have to wait for his opportunity as India named an unchanged 12-man squad for the second and final Test match against West Indies in Hyderabad.

Captain Virat Kohli had made the announcement of naming a 12-man shortlisted team ahead of every home Test

There were a lot of speculations about Agarwal’s debut being on the cards keeping the Australia tour in mind but the Indian team management has decided not to tinker with their winning combination, making the series win first priority.

Team India for the 2nd Test against Windies at Hyderabad 🇮🇳 #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/QMgNm6jf4Q

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 11, 2018

While it is unlikely that India would make any changes to their playing XI too but there is a slight possibility of Shardul Thakur being handed over his Test cap in place Mohammad Shami, who had a hamstring problem during the first Test.

India registered their biggest ever Test win by beating West Indies by an innings and 272 runs  in the first Test at Rajkot

Just like their 12-member squad, India's ruthless home run is unlikely to be challenged by the West Indies, who have been bolstered by the return of Kemar Roach but are in danger of losing out Shanon Gabriel because of an injury. 

The lop-sided matches are hardly the kind of preparation the Indian team would have wanted before the big-ticket series against Australia starting December.

In fact, Virat Kohli's team might not be able to escape a sense of deja vu as it goes into the second Test. 

2011, India dominated West Indies 2-0 in a one-sided series before crashing to a 0-4 defeat against Australia Down Under.

Similarly, in 2013 when India won both Test matches well inside three days, the next tour of South Africa didn't pan out well as they lost the series.

It is just an indicator that the West Indies Test teams over the years have not been competitive enough to challenge the Indian team, which is anyway formidable on home turf.

The only area of concern for India will be vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane's form, who was touted as the best player in overseas conditions back in 2013-14 season, when he scored 96 at Durban, 118 at Wellington, 103 at the Lord's and 145 at Melbourne.

Rahane has gone without a Test hundred for nearly 14 months (last hundred came against Sri Lanka in August 2017). His career has tapered off a bit in the last couple of years. And the second Test would be last shot to get back into a good frame of mind before the Australia series, which could be make or break for him.

bowling coach Bharath Arun put up a strong argument for the out-of-form KL Rahul (14 failures in 16 knocks this year). The decision to play him for this Test is a fair enough indication that India will be looking at the Rahul-Shaw combination going into that first Test against Australia in Adelaide on December.

Shardul Thakur continues to be the 12th man as a 2-0 series win is paramount for the home team at this point of

Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will also like to use this opportunity well as they are unlikely to feature in the ODI series.

Fo West Indies, the aim will to at least put up some fight unlike the Rajkot game where they didn't even last 100 overs across both innings.

Kieran Powell's 83 and Roston Chase's 53 were the only notable contributions from the Caribbean batting line-up in the first game.

In the second innings, it looked as if the batsmen were in a tearing hurry to hit every ball where the need of the hour was to show patience.

The West Indies' slide in Test is a combination of both lack of application and technique needed to compete at the highest level.

They would love to redeem themselves, which looks highly unlikely as of now.

Teams:

India Final 12: Virat Kohli (captain), Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.

West Indies Squad: Jason Holder (c), Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Jahmar Hamilton, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, and Jomel Warrican.