India will look to plug the chinks in its armoury and provide finishing touches to its preparation for the four-Test series when it takes on the West Indies Cricket Board Presidents' XI in the final warm-up match, starting in Basseterre, St Kitts, on Thursday.
Since the three-day match will more or less decide India’s final playing eleven for the Test against the West Indies, both batsmen and bowlers will strive to make their performances count to earn a place when chief coach Anil Kumble and skipper Virat Kohli sit down to select the team for the first Test at Antigua, starting July 21.
The Indians were far from impressive in their previous two-day warm-up game, their pace battery struggling in an inconsistent showing.
The seamers, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, who is returning to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, began well but lost the plot after sometime as they struggled with line and length.
They were unable to push the batsmen into playing their deliveries and bowled too wide outside the off-stump. That is one area they will have to work on in the three-day game at Warner Park.
Ishant Sharma, who also had a long lay-off, and Umesh Yadav will also look to grind it out as they are expected to be key members in Kohli's game plans.
It will be interesting to see if Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur gets a chance to roll his arms over in this game.
While the seamers were inconsistent, leg-spinner Amit Mishra was impressive and made life difficult for the West Indies Presidents' XI batsmen. He was on a hat-trick after dismissing Rajendra Chandrika and Jermaine Blackwood off successive deliveries.
Mishra ended up with a four-wicket haul and will look to continue his good run.
Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will also be looking to test their skills in the warm-up game, since the pitches in the West Indies assist slow bowlers.
In batting, India's top-order looked solid while spending enough time in the middle in the opening warm-up.
K L Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan scored fifties. The latter’s form in the longer version, however, has been pretty patchy, while Rahul will be hoping for another good show before the team management finalises the opening slot, Murali Vijay being the other contender.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored 34 runs off 102 balls before retiring out, while Rohit Sharma too was impressive, coming up with a fluent 54 not out off 109 balls.
However, skipper Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were dismissed cheaply. The duo will look to find their 'A' game since both are an important cog in the India line-up.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny.
WICB President's XI: Leon Johnson (captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Rajendra Chandrika, Roston Chase, Jason Dawes, Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope, Damion Jacobs, Keon Joseph, Marquino Mindley, Vishaul Singh, Jomel Warrican.
Match starts: 1930 IST.
