Jason Holder, at 26, is already a veteran leader of the West Indies with 26 Tests (won 7, lost 14, drawn 5) as skipper, and the young Bajan knows that Test cricket is a hard-fought skirmish and fortunes have not exactly swung his way.
There has been a some success for the team and himself in recent times. He took 28 wickets in five home Tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and comes here on the back of his first 10-wicket haul. While the West Indies drew the series against Sri Lanka, it beat Bangladesh 2-0.
Holder would like to forget his series against India at home in 2016. His one wicket came at 239.00 while his career average is a just under 30 (81 wickets in 34 Tests) .
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Gabriel at the forefront
Clearly he would try to be a force in the upcoming series. During the course of an interaction here, Holder named fast bowler Shannon Gabriel (11 wickets at 29.58 in 37 Tests) as the leader of the pack and said that this was great opportunity for his young team to ply its trade against the world’s top-ranked Test side.
“We have played some really good cricket in recent times. Quite a few of our guys really stood out individually and we have to keep that collective strength. India is the No.1 Test team. They have played some good cricket despite their last series (against England). It will be a good test for us. We have to just focus on the two Test matches.”
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Asked whether the two-day match was enough to get used to the local conditions, Holder said “we have just come from Dubai. We had a really good camp there. It’s really hot there and we got accustomed to the heat that is similar to the one in India. We also had a practice game which went pretty well. We will utilise this two-day game the best way we can before the first Test.”
“It’s been good. Our last two Test series were very good. I don’t want to dwell too much in the past; we have a big series ahead of us, a big winter to be precise. So the focus is on that and to play good cricket,’’ said Holder when asked if he was enjoying captaincy.
Bishoo factor
Holder said leg spinner Bishoo could play a big role. “He has been around for a while and doing well. The conditions could favour him a bit more here. We expect him to come into play in this series and be a match-winner.”
The West Indies captain said that the seam attack, which revolves around Gabriel, Roach and himself, has an opportunity to enhance its skills in the Indian conditions and against some world-class players. “India has some really good players. They are the No. 1 team in the world and that cannot be done by just one player (Virat Kohli). India has a good team.’’
Holder is ready to bank on his team to extend the good display it showed in the home series. “We had a good home series dominated by the fast bowlers. The conditions there are a little bit different from what we have here. The fast bowlers have to make some adjustments. It’s a good opportunity for them to enhance their skills.”