India:Test Championship Journey

[bhagwati]

Hi Guys,

This is my first Story.

I will captain India team and take them through the Test Championship journey.

We are currently 1st placed in Test Rankings with 29 points & have 5 points lead over second placed South Africa.

Schedule for 19/20 Season

2 Tests vs West Indies(Away)
3 Tests vs South Africa(Home)
2 Tests vs Bangladesh(Home)
2 Tests vs New Zealand(Away)

Season Goals

We aim to continue dominating at home & would try to win Test Series in New Zealand after 10 years.

With this being Inaugural Test Championship, we don't know what to expect & will see how it pans out.

[bhagwati]

West Indies vs India 2019(2 Tests)


Squad

Batsmen

Shikhar Dhawan
Prithvi Shaw
Mayank Agarwal
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma
Ajinkya Rahane

Wicket-Keepers

Rishabh Pant
KL Rahul

All Rounders

Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin

Bowlers

Jasprit Bumrah
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Mohammed Shami
Ishant Sharma
Mohammed Siraj
Khaleel Ahmed
Kuldeep Yadav

[bhagwati]

West Indies vs India 1st Test at Jamaica






Playing 11





Players to watch out for

Ajinkya Rahane :- Averaged only 30 last year
Kuldeep Yadav:- Preferred over severely out of form Ashwin

[bhagwati]

Toss

India won the toss & chose to bat first

Match Summary



Highlights

Shikhar Dhawan & Prithvi Shaw partnership of 160 gave us the perfect start but then West Indies bowlers took full advantage of cloudy conditions to restrict us to under 300. West Indies started cautiously but Ishant removed both openers in his second spell & Darren Bravo got retired hurt by nasty bouncer from Shami, after which they couldn't recover & were bowled out for 138.India were struggling at 10/3 in second innings, Rahane & Rahul took us to 193.West Indies while chasing 352 started well but wickets at regular intervals with 6 batsmen getting out between 20 & 50 resulted in they getting bowled out at 241.

Result

India Won by 110 Run

Man of the Match

Shikhar Dhawan(100 & 34 Runs)

Notable Performances

Ishant Sharma(5 & 4 Wickets was the best bowler by distance)
KL Rahul & Ajinkya Rahane(2nd Innings 50's stabilised us after early collapse)

Disappointing Performances

Cheteshwar Pujara(8 & 0 Runs)
Rohit Sharma(15 & 2 Runs)

[bhagwati]

West Indies vs India 2nd Test at Trinidad



Playing 11



Players to watch out for

Cheteshwar Pujara( We expect better performance from our no 3)
Rohit Sharma( With Rishabh Pant waiting in wings Rohit need to score some runs)

[bhagwati]

Toss

West Indies won the toss & chose to bat first

Match Summary



Highlights

Brathwaite(31) & Lewis(45) gave WI a good start of 57 runs when Shami removed Brathwaite & after that they lost wickets regularly & where reeling at 178/8 but record 126 run partnership between Roach & Joseph for 9th wicket took them to respectable 310.India in reply lost Dhawan(0) in the 1st over itself but then Pujara(57), Shaw(157) & Kohli(134) took us to 428.Once again WI openers provided them good start of 75 runs but they could only score 196 & setting india an easy target of 79 which they chased comfortably.

Result

India Won by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match

Prithvi Shaw(157 & 40 Runs)

Notable Performances

Ishant Sharma & Kuldeep Yadav(6 Wickets in match)
Virat Kohli(134 in 1st Innings)

Disappointing Performance

Bowlers inability to clear tail in first Innings

[bhagwati]

Series Result

As was expected India won 2-0 comfortably


Man of the Series

Ishant Sharma(Total 15 wickets at 18.5)


Test Championship Points Table





Next Series

3 Tests vs South Africa(Home)

[bhagwati]

India vs South Africa 3 Test Series 2019

Previous Meeting in India:- India won 3-0 in 2015. We aim to repeat the performance.

1st Test at Delhi



Playing 11(2 changes)

(R Pant & R Ashwin replacing KL Rahul & M Shami)



Players to watch out

Jasprit Bumrah(Had an average series against WI)
Rishabh Pant(Chance to cement his place)

[bryce87]

Good luck. You should be able to get the better of them on spinning pitches.

[bhagwati]

Thanks Bro. This match had lot of cloud cover it helped south africa's pace attack.

[bhagwati]

Toss

South Africa won the toss & chose to bat first

Match Summary



Highlights

Elgar(17) & Markram(78) started the tour well with 80 runs partnership helped by two dropped catches of Markram(on 58 & 70).Ishant then removed Elgar & T de Bruyn(29) in consecutive over.Faf(78) then along with Markram took them to 134 when Ashwin removed Markram & Hamza(0) in same over.After that things went downhill for India, first Faf with Bavuma(36 off 45) & then with De Kock(166 off 160) counter attacked us & took control of the game by scoring 442 in just over 3 & half session.

India in reply lost wickets continuously under tight bowling & where facing follow-on prospects at 99-5. Pujara(105) & Pant(83) joined hands & took us out of trouble with 165 runs partnership & we ended up scoring 296.

South Africa once again scored briskly and declared at 142/3(43 overs) setting India a target of 289 in 2 & a half sessions.

We tried to chase & got a good start of 83 in 24 overs but then lost wickets continuously & in the end secured draw.

Result

Draw

Man of the Match

Quinton de Kock(166 in 1st Innings)

Notable Performances

Pujara & Pant in 1st innings


Disappointing Performances

Whole Bowling unit(failed to both keep run rate in check & pick wickets)
Bumrah continues to disappoint

Series

0-0

[bryce87]

Thanks Bro. This match had lot of cloud cover it helped south africa's pace attack.

Oh no yes Philander is tough under cloud cover. Good luck for the next one.

[bhagwati]

India vs South Africa 2nd Test at Kolkata

Playing 11(no changes)





Players to watch out

Ajinkya Rahane(only 85 runs in 5 innings)
Ashwin & Kuldeep(on spinning track our bowling depends on them)

[bhagwati]

Toss

India won the toss & chose to bat first

Match Summary



Highlights

India were in trouble early at 15/2. Kohli(64) & Shaw(23) took us to 53 when Shaw was dismissed by Elgar(1/8).Virat along with Rahane(81) then stitched together 89 runs partnership as Kohli was adjudged lbw off Philander(3/51).Ngidi bowled Rohit(22) just as was looking good.Rahane & Pant(77) then took us past 200 and eventually Rahane succumbed to Maharaj's spin after playing a invaluable knock.Pant with support from Ashwin(17) & Kuldeep(30) took us to 350.

South Africa lost Markram(6) early on 12. Hamza(50) & Elgar(25) took them past 50, Kuldeep(5/101) then removed Elgar & Faf(30) before they could score big.In walked Miller(81 off 88) who made this track look flat.He dominated in 53 runs partnership with Bavuma(6) then De Kock(55) joined him & took South Africa past 200, Kuldeep then dismissed Miller before he could take the game away from us.De Kock tried to play with tail but Kuldeep & Ashwin ran through them quickly & Ngidi's runout ended SA innings at 286 giving India lead of 64

Pitch was uneven & turning square now. India lost wickets consistently & folded up at 168 thanks to Maharaj(3/39) & Ngidi(3/62).

Chasing target of 233 SA lost Elgar(6) early on 12. Markram(66) along with Hamza(32) & Faf(23) took them past 100. Miller(54 off 44) came in at 117 after fall of Faf & once again played aggressively from start.Markram & Miller were taking SA closer to victory when kuldeep dismissed Markram on 149 with 84 needed for victory.Markram wicket led to a collapse with Miller left fighting at one end as Ashwin(4/47) & Kuldeep(4/67) ran through them.SA were suddenly 174/8 with 49 to win.Steyn(9 off 9) showed some fight as he along with Miller scored 29 in 2.4 overs and took SA to 203 with 30 more needed.Kuldeep then removed both Steyn & Ngidi in consecutive overs & India completed a thrilling victory by 29 runs.

Result

India won by 29 runs

Man of the Match

Kuldeep Yadav(30 & 16*, 5/101 & 4/67)

Notable Performances

Ajinkya Rahane(81 in 1st Innings)
Rishabh Pant(77 in 1st Innings)
Ashwin(4/47 in 2nd Innings)

Disappointing Performance

Shikhar Dhawan(his bad form in tests continues, averaging 20 in 4 tests)
What do you think should i drop Dhawan?.He just scored a century in last T20I & avg 62 In Domestic OD.
Possible Replacements are Hanuma Vihari(Top scorer in Dom OD, avg 137) & Mayank Agrawal(75 avg in Dom OD)

Series

India 1-0

South Africa is giving us tough fight & showing why they are No 2 in tests.We have to be at our best in next match.

[kanegan]

Great start mate and a nice concept. I am inspired to start a career as well with a different team.