West Indies target New Zealand template for success against India

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West Indies Test captain Roston Chase has made it clear that the tourists are aiming for an upset victory in the upcoming two-match Test series against India, drawing inspiration from New Zealand’s recent success against the home side.Chase stated that the primary goal is to play “positive cricket” throughout the series, echoing the aggressive mentality of New Zealand, which dominated India 3-0 in a series held last year.The series is being played under challenging conditions, with Indian captain Shubman Gill predicting a fierce examination of the West Indies’ batting lineup.Historically, the touring side has struggled against quality spin on subcontinental wickets.The first Test is set to begin on Thursday, with the action beginning at midnight Eastern Caribbean time.For India, every home season brings the same expectations from India, but this one also brings a set of new anxieties. They’re about to play their first home Test since 0-3, their first home Test under Shubman Gill’s captaincy, and their first home Test since the retirements of R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.An unusually green pitch in Ahmedabad adds another layer of anxiety, potentially magnifying the importance of the toss.India’s anxieties, of course, pale in comparison to those of their opponents: injuries to key fast bowlers, the loss of a T20I series to Nepal (albeit with a second-string team that has no overlap with their Test squad), the emergency review of the team’s Test-match performances that followed 27 all out in Kingston, and the existential questions around the team’s future in the World Test Championship.West Indies can’t turn anywhere without fear of getting punched in the face.But it could give them the license to throw a few punches of their own. Their captain Roston Chase put it simply on the eve of the Test match. “When you have nothing to lose, you can just go and play freely, because, I mean, everyone is expecting us to lose.”Everyone expects West Indies to lose. Everyone expects India to win. Everyone always expects India to win at home. From the start of 2013 to roughly the same point last year, India kept meeting these expectations again and again and again.Until they didn’t. Until New Zealand visited and won in a manner that showed just how much skill and effort it had taken for India to create and sustain the illusion of invincibility over such a long period.You might be the best team in the world, but you have to keep going out and proving it again and again, each time against a set of highly skilled athletes throwing a new set of challenges at you.Man to man, in personnel terms, this Test in Ahmedabad looks like a mismatch.But it will begin with the scorecard reading 0 for 0, in conditions from which no one quite knows what to expect. (Modified from ESPNcricinfo)India squad: Shubman Gill (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-capt), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, N Jagadeesan (wk)West Indies squad: Roston Chase (capt), Jomel Warrican (vice-capt), Kevlon Anderson, Alick Athanaze, John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Johann Layne, Jediah Blades, Brandon King, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Jayden SealesThe post West Indies target New Zealand template for success against India appeared first on News Room Guyana.