India will look to plug the holes and provide the finishing touches to their preparation for the four-Test series when they take on West Indies Cricket Board Presidents’ XI in the final warm-up match starting Thursday.
Coach Anil Kumble, who has a magnificent record in the West Indies, was seen bowling at the nets to opener KL Rahul.
The three-day match will more or less decide the final playing XI for India and both the batsmen and bowlers will look to make their performance count and earn a place when Kumble and Kohli sit down to select the team for the first Test at Antigua starting July 21.
India were far from impressive in their last two-day warm-up game as their pace battery struggled with their inconsistent show and it will be the last chance for Kumble’s boys to make an impression.
The Indian seamers, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, who is returning to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, began well but lost the plot after sometime as they struggled with their line and length. They could not push the batsmen to play their deliveries and bowled too wide outside the off stump, something which the pacers will have to sort out in the three-day warm-up game at Warner Park.
Ishant Sharma, who also has had a long lay-off, and Umesh Yadav will also look to grind it out as the duo is expected to be key members of Kohli’s game plans.
