The first Test will begin on October 2 in Ahmedabad.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of legendary batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul, will mark his return to the longest format when the West Indies take on India from October 2 in Ahmedabad.
West Indies have been struggling in Test cricket for over a decade, except for some historic wins against England and Australia. They finished last in each of the last three World Test Championship (WTC) cycles so far. But the team hit a new low earlier this year when they were bowled out for just 27 runs against Australia in Jamaica, the second-lowest team total ever in Test cricket.
The collapse prompted the Cricket West Indies (CWI) board to call for an emergency meeting of its Cricket Strategy Committee. Former captains Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, and Brian Lara were invited to provide inputs for the redemption. The outcome saw CWI taking some bold decisions, with senior players like Kemar Roach and Craig Braithwaite getting dropped. They also named five uncapped players for the upcoming two-Test series against India.
Head coach Daren Sammy expects Tagenarine to step into Brathwaite’s shoes and emulate his father and Rahul Dravid’s ability to grind down bowlers through patience and discipline. Much like his father, Tagenarine’s square-on stance, crouch at the crease, trigger movement, and the style of marking his guard with the bail underline the similarities.
Since his debut in November 2022, the southpaw has faced 1,433 balls, scoring 560 runs in 19 innings at an average of 35. Among West Indies batters, only Braithwaite has faced more deliveries (2,376), though in 20 more innings during the period.
The left-hand batter overall averages 44 against spin, but has been dismissed on seven occasions. In two Tests against India in the Caribbean in 2023, he fell to the spin attack of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. With India boasting arguably the best spin attack in the world as far as red-ball cricket is concerned, the challenge will be steep.
“India has a great bowling line-up. So you can’t take them for granted. You’ve got to go out there and give them the respect and try and score when you can. But playing Ashwin and Jadeja… I can take some confidence and do the right things going into this Test series,” he said.
Now preparing for his first India tour, Tagenarine is focused on acclimatising to the conditions quickly and countering the spin challenge of Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel.
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However, Tagenarine’s previous trip to the subcontinent will give him some confidence. On his first and only First-Class tour of the subcontinent in 2023 so far, he amassed 275 runs in five innings for West Indies A against Bangladesh A in Sylhet, including three fifties. He was the second-highest run-getter in the unofficial three-match Test series in Bangladesh, just some runs behind Joshua Da Silva (300 runs).
“I had runs against two left-arm spinners and a few off-spinners as well. It was a fairly good tour for me. I had a few [good] scores. Hopefully, I can try and get some runs in the series ahead,” he added.
With the West Indies already conceding a 3-0 whitewash to Australia at home, the visitors will be under pressure, though expectations are modest. CWI will be hoping for resilience, if not wins, from the young side. Additionally, they have been hit by injuries to their frontline pacers, Alzarri and Shamar Joseph, who have been ruled out of the series. But there’s a silver lining of hope that the 29-year-old can hold the fort, wear down India’s bowling attack, and carry West Indies batting, like his father did in his playing days.
However, India will start as the favourites in the two-match series as the West Indies have not defeated India in a test match in 23 years. Their last Test victory against India came under the captaincy of Carl Hooper in Kingston on May 18, 2022, where Shivnarine had amassed fifties (58 and 59) in both innings.
The two-match Test series begins on October 2, in Ahmedabad, with the second Test slated for October 10 in Delhi.
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