Middle order in focus as rampant India eye series sweep against feeble Windies

Ajinkya Rahane will be aiming to pile on the runs to extend his international career and lead India to a series sweep against a feeble West Indies when the second and final Test begins here on ThursdayThe game will mark the 100th Test between the two teams and though India skipper Rohit Sharma said it will be a big occasion his team will be expected to dominate the West Indies like it did in the series opener in DominicaNext Test in DecJanAfter the game at the Queenrsquos Park Oval India play their next Test only on the tour of South Africa in DecemberJanuary leaving the likes of Rahane one more opportunity to make it extremely hard for selectors to overlook him for the away series against the ProteasVikram RathourIn his first Test in 18 months which happened to be the World Test Championships final last month Rahane was the stand out India batter but he would be ruing the missed opportunity on a slow and turning pitch in Dominica where the visitors needed to bat only once There is a strong chance that India will again bat only once and Rahane will need to make it count with Shreyas Iyer who is undergoing rehab after a back surgery expected to be available for the South Africa tourAlso Read Cricket quite the gentlemanrsquos gameBatting coach Vikram Rathour said in the lead up to the game that India would need an inform Rahane for the South African sojourn ldquoWhen it comes to technique you constantly work on that but what stood out for me that he was much more calm in his approach He was playing late and close to the body He is still batting the same way in the nets We hope he will do well Conditions in South Africa you will need somebody like him to come goodrdquo Rathour said ahead of the second TestFollowing an innings and 141run victory in three days no major changes are expected in the playing eleven but it remains to be seen if leftarm pacer Jaydev Unadkat gets another opportunityThe 31yearold who featured in only his third Test in 13 years was the lone Indian bowler who did not pick a wicket in Dominica and bowled only nine oversSinclair replaces ReiferIndia spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja made merry on a track offering turn in the series opener and another turner is on the cards with the West Indies replacing batting allrounder Ramon Reifer with spin allrounder Kevin SinclairIf that is indeed the case India will be tempted to play another spinner in Axar Patel at Unadkatrsquos expenseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever