Kohli hints at sticking to five-bowler combination

Each of the last 15 Test matches at Sabina Park has ended with one team victorious and the other defeated. The pitch for the second Test between West Indies and India, which starts on Saturday, promises yet another decisive result, and Virat Kohli has welcomed it. India, he said, were “excited” to be playing at a “result-oriented ground”.

“We’re not focusing on the opposition too much,” he said. “We are happy that the wicket is going to have some bounce and carry. There was decent-enough bounce in Antigua for us to exploit whatever help was there. Jamaica is going to be even better, it’s a result-oriented ground, we all know that. We’re quite excited about it.

“We’ve got good pace, the bowlers are bowling good areas. We’d just like to focus on that and believe that our batsmen are good enough to tackle any pace and bounce that West Indies’ bowlers have. The plan is to go out there and play with the determination and focus that we showed in the first game.”

Ahead of the first Test in Antigua, Kohli had spoken about India’s horses-for-courses approach, and picking the best possible bowling attack that could take 20 wickets in the given conditions. Considering the tinge of green on the Sabina Park pitch, India may have been tempted into thinking they may not need a five-bowler combination, such as the one they picked in Antigua, and instead play an extra batsman at No. 6. But Kohli indicated India would stick to the same approach that won them the Antigua Test by an innings and 92 runs. He also suggested India would need two spinners, and felt slow bowlers would come into the game in the second innings.

“Honestly there’s not much room to change when you’ve won the first game, knowing that the fast bowlers have done the job,” he said. “There’s good bounce in this wicket. The last time we played a Test here, in 2011, [Amit Mishra] and Harbhajan [Singh] both got good turn and bounce. So …

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