‘Going to be a long struggle’ for West Indies bowlers

In the absence of Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach, West Indies’ long-time new-ball pair, their fast bowlers are still “learning the art”, their bowling coach Roddy Estwick said after the second day’s play of the Antigua Test. With their captain Virat Kohli moving to his maiden double-hundred, India swelled their overnight score by 264 runs before declaring on 566 for 8. Having experienced another punishing day on the field, West Indies were 31 for 1 at stumps.

“Yes, obviously it is a good wicket for batting but also we must bear in mind that as a bowling attack we have lost Jerome Taylor to retirement and we have lost Kemar Roach, who has not been selected, and when you look at our bowling attack, between them it is about 40-45 Tests,” Estwick said. “So the current bowlers are still learning the art of fast bowling and trying to get the combinations right. So it is going to be a long struggle.

“And remember that India are a very good batting side as well. So it will be a tough series for us and we will continue to work hard and continue to stay disciplined and try and stay focussed as possible.”

India went into the Test match with only five specialist batsmen, but that did not hurt them even after they had lost their first four wickets with only 236 on the board. R Ashwin, batting as high as No. 6 for the first time in his career, scored his third Test hundred, and Wriddhiman Saha, Amit Mishra and Mohammed …

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