West Indies v India, 1st Test, preview.

Thu, Jul 21, '16

The last two times India has travelled to the Caribbean Islands for a Test series, it has come back victorious – in 2006 and 2011, both times with identical 1-0 scorelines.

Starting Thursday (July 21) at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in St John’s, the two teams clash again, and considering recent records, the Indians would fancy their chances of making it three in three, even though it won’t be easy.

In the last 12 months, a period heavy with Twenty20 cricket, India has played just seven Tests, three in Sri Lanka and four at home against South Africa, and has won both times – 2-1 in Sri Lanka and 3-0 against the South Africans. In the same period, West Indies has lost four of its five Tests, two each away to Sri Lanka and Australia. After that Indian tour in 2011, West Indies has travelled twice to India and lost both times – 2-0 in November 2011 and by the same margin in November 2013. The ICC Test rankings – India at No. 2 and West Indies one off the bottom at No. 8 – also don’t do the host any favours.

Despite an outstanding 2016 for West Indies in shorter forms of the game, when it won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, and had both its men’s and women’s teams triumphing at the ICC World Twenty20, it hasn’t gotten going in Test cricket.