India look to seal series against West Indies in third Test

Stung by a remarkable fightback from West Indies on the final day of the rain-hit second Test, India will have to look at their bowling combinations and get back to winning ways when the third cricket Test begins here tomorrow.
Riding on rookie batsman Roston Chase's resolute 137 off 269 balls, West Indies held on with a fighting draw in the rain-affected second Test in Jamaica.
But the visitors still hold a 1-0 lead in the four-match series after winning the first Test in Antigua by an innings and 92 runs and would look to seal the series when they take the field at the Darren Sammy Stadium here.

Only four Tests have been played at this ground, since the inaugural Test here in 2003. India have experienced the playing conditions previously on the 2006 tour, and that game ended in a draw.
In fact, three of the four Tests have ended without a result, with West Indies beating Bangladesh by 296 runs in 2014. Unlike the Sabina Park pitch, the wicket laid out here has a brownish hue to it, with dry grass all over the surface.
On Sunday evening, there was only a minor tinge of green, perhaps owing to the fact that the grounds men were still watering it. Any moisture though should evaporate within the first hour of play, with the sun beating down, as the pitch already looks a batting beauty in keeping with its history.

As such, India's ploy of playing five bowlers should stay untouched but it can be assumed that they ought to have discussed the lines bowled at the West Indies' batsmen and why they couldn't take six wickets on a day five pitch in Jamaica.

Even so, with the team still enjoying a series lead, it is tough to anticipate any changes in the pacers' quota. However, the one change that can come about is regarding the second spinner slot.
Amit Mishra's performance on day five was a huge let down, as he was unable to bowl a holding line and instead leaked runs. With the pitch easing up and the ball going soft, it had a major impact on the skipper's plan to bowl his spinners in tandem.

(REOPENS DEL 14)
India, who have an enviable record of not being beaten in 14 home Tests since their loss to England in Kolkata in 2012, have a good batting line-up even though it has been hit by injuries to KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.
Kohli is once again expected to lead the way in batting along with Rahane and the likes of Murali Vijay, the recalled Gautam Gambhir and Cheteshwar Pujara, the team's leading scorer against New Zealand, who will be playing at his home town here.
Because of the injury sustained by Rohit in the one-day series against New Zealand, either Karnataka batsman Karun Nair or Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya appear set to make a Test debut.

More than anything, the focus will be on the track prepared for the game at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium.
SCA's secretary Niranjan Shah had told reporters that the pitch will aid spin from day four.
India have the clear edge in spin department with the in-form Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja expected to give a lot of trouble to the English batting line-up, especially on turners.
Although there's merit in India going in with all three spinners -- Ravinchandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra --, with the leg-spinner expected to be kept in the reserves -- at least for the opening tie.

Ishant Sharma will make a return after missing the New Zealand series due to illness to add meat to the pace department.
It would be interesting to see whether he's preferred over Umesh Yadav to partner Mohammed Shami.
Pujara is an incredibly difficult batsman to bowl to on
Indian pitches and if he crosses the 50-run mark, the only way possible to get him out is to wait for a mistake on the batsman's part.
And then comes the captain, the current show stopper in Indian cricket.
Bangladesh's strength will be their spinners Shakib Al Hasan and young Miraz, who made an impression against England on home soil.

But Miraz's real test will be against the likes of Vijay, Pujara and Kohli - three brilliant players of spin bowling, especially Vijay, who can take on the spinners anytime, anywhere.
Teams (from):
India: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Abhinav Mukund, Kuldeep Yadav
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain/wk), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Mominul Haque, Sabbir Rahaman, Shakib al Hasan, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mosaddek Hosain, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Subhasish Roy, Taijul Islam, Shafiul Islam.

Match starts at 9:30 IST.