IND vs WI: Dinesh Karthik Picks India's Playing 11 for West Indies 2nd Test, Gives Mukesh Kumar Bad News

Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has predicted Team India’s playing eleven for the second Test against West Indies. The final Test of the two-match series will be played in Trinidad from Thursday (July 20).

The Rohit Sharma-led side has taken an unassailable lead in the series by winning the first Test in Dominica. India thoroughly dominated the series opener and inflicted a heavy defeat on the hosts. The visitors thrashed the hosts by an innings and 141 runs in the first Test.

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Batting first, West Indies were all out for just 150 runs in the first innings. India spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 5 wickets while Ravindra Jadeja accounted for three scalps. In reply with the bat, India scored 461 for 5 before declaring their innings. With their back against the wall, the home side could only score 130 runs as Ashwin ran riot and picked up seven wickets in the second innings.

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Dinesh Karthik on India’s Playing XI for the second Test:

With an unassailable lead in the bag, Indian team management could be tempted to try out uncapped Mukesh Kumar in the second Test. Jaydev Unadkat had a poor outing in the first Test as he failed to pick up a single wicket in the game.

Dinesh Karthik, however, has some bad news for Mukesh Kumar and other Indian players who warmed the bench during the first Test. The veteran cricketer has opined that India are unlikely to change their winning combination after registering such an impressive win in the first Test.

“India won’t make any changes be it their mindset, skillset or playing XI. They will bring the same brand of cricket to the table. They have been very strong, very sure about what they want. The Ashwin-Jadeja combo has done wonders.

“Debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal has done well. There is no room for a change unless there’s a change. They have had a five-day break. In the Caribbean, you generally go to the beaches and that’s what they must’ve done for the first two-three days and then they would’ve practised for two days,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

Dinesh Karthik also spoke about West Indies’ constant struggle against India in recent years. The Caribbean outfit has now won a Test against India since the 2-1 series victory at home way back in 2002. Since then, both the teams have played 24 Tests against each other and West Indies have not won even one game.

“This becomes an even more important one for West Indies because they haven’t won a Test against since 2002. That’s almost two decades. They would want to turn that around but they have a mental block against India.

They need to find a way to sort that out. Do they need to make some changes? There’s fast bowler, Shanon Gabriel, do they bring him in place of one of the seamers or do they strengthen their batting by dropping an extra seamer? Kirk McKenzie is an option,” said Dinesh Karthik.

“What West Indies need to bring is a lot of fire. They are capable of that. Under Kraigg Brathwaite, they have done a few special things, they need to draw confidence from them. They need to draw belief from that. Somewhere they have lost it in their mind before the Test started and this is not how international cricket should be played. I think they know that they are a much better team than the performance they have put in in the last Test,” he added.

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