The West Indies may be forced to hand a debut to Grenadian Sherman Lewis or give Keemo Paul his first away test as Kemar Roach is set to miss the team's first match against hosts India in Rajkot on Wednesday night Jamaica time. Roach had left the West Indies squad following the death of his grandmother and will only make it back from Barbados midway through the Rajkot game.
It means the West Indies will be short of a new ball bowler with Paul and Lewis the likely replacements. Paul has 57 first-class wickets at an average of 17.47, and can also be a handy batsman in the lower order with a high score of 107. In June, he was named cricket West Indies' emerging player of the year.
Lewis, who is less experienced, was brought in as a like-for-like replacement for the injured Alzarri Joseph and the 22-year old made an immediate impression in the tour game that ended on Sunday, giving away only 13 runs in 10 overs while picking up one wicket.
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Jason Holder has singled out Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich as two players he expects a lot from during their test tour of India. Both players showed good form and composure in their last test series against the Indians with Chase becoming only the second West Indian to score a century and take 5 wickets in the same test.
Chase's century was also his first and formed part of a marathon partnership with Dowrich that helped to save the test at Sabina Park in 2016. However, playing away to India possess its own challenges but Holder is hoping both Dowrich and Chase will adapt. Holder who was also named player of the series in the Windies’ latest contest against Bangladesh in the Caribbean, says this tour of India will not be about personal accomplishments.
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