Team news

The West Indies have called up off-spinning all-rounder Kevin Sinclair, who is uncapped at Test level. Raymon Reifer has been left out of the squad after scores of two and 11 batting at number three in the first Test.

India could name the same team who claimed a convincing victory in Roseau. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan made his debut in the first Test, having been preferred to Srikar Bharat. Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar are the reserve pace bowlers in the Test squad.

India Fall of First Wicket Over 39.5 @ 5/6

The West Indies, the dominant force in world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s, have struggled in recent years and are 14/1 outsiders to win the second Test against India at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

It is hard to argue with those odds given India’s dominant display in the first Test in Dominica, where spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took 12 wickets as the Windies crumbled to 150 and 130 all out.

India eased into a first-innings lead without losing a wicket as captain Rohit Sharma and Test debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal shared an opening stand of 229, batting for more than 75 overs with few alarms.

Jaiswal, who averages 84 in first-class cricket, went on to make a superb 171 and India are worth backing to have a first-wicket partnership of over 39.5 in the first innings of the second Test.

Alick Athanaze West Indies Top Run Scorer (1st Innings) @ 11/2

There were few positives for the West Indies to take from last week’s Roseau rout but Test debutant Alick Athanaze could be satisfied with his personal performance.

Batting at number five, Athanaze top-scored for the hosts in both innings with 47 and 28, also picking up the wicket of Rohit and taking a couple of sharp catches.

That display should have boosted the confidence of the 24-year-old, who made 65 on his ODI debut against the UAE in June and had first-innings scores of 85, 45 and 59 for West Indies A in three unofficial Test matches in Bangladesh in May.

Athanaze’s success on that tour suggests he may well be a better player of spin than many of his senior colleagues so he is a tempting price to be the West Indies’ top runscorer at the Queen’s Park Oval.

He enjoyed his last outing at the venue in March, scoring 59 for the Windward Islands in a low-scoring victory over a Barbados side including Test spinner Jomel Warrican, and he can kick on after an impressive Test debut in tough conditions.