Virat Kohli’s key to success: Perfect combination

The Indian bowlers have helped Kohli become the only Indian skipper to win two Tests in West Indies.

Virat Kohli-led India beat West Indies in the third Test to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. (Source: AP)

Ishant Sharma: His spell on the first morning of the Sabina Park Test was penetrative and set the tone for West Indies’s collapse. In the last Test, he snared Marlon Samuels and Roston Chase. He has shepherded his younger peers.

Mohammed Shami: He elicited conventional swing with the new ball, especially out-swing that destroyed West Indies in the first innings in Antigua. He has also added a lethal bouncer, the lethality of which Darren Bravo would fully testify.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: At St Lucia, he swung the ball both ways and changed the destiny of the match in one 11-over spell after lunch on the fourth day. He bowled in the early 130 kmph, the swing he can manufacture, allied with accuracy, makes him an all-condition bowler.
Umesh Yadav: He can ruffle batsman, as he did when bundling out the lower-order batsmen in the first innings in Antigua.

R Ashwin: A seven-for in Antigua, followed by a five-for in Kingston, a brace of hundreds with his team in duress and two man of the match awards, speak volumes on Ashwin’s contribution to this series win.

Amit Mishra: When Ashwin was on song, Mishra kept the pressure from other end. Several times he beat the batman’s edge, several times an edge denied his googlies a wicket and several the umpires erred in the judgment.

R Jadeja: He not only bowled economically but also chipped in with important wickets. In the first innings, he took out Roston Chase and in the second Jermaine Blackwood, both with the tossed up deliveries that followed fastish ones.

# The bowling groups that couldn’t win 2 Tests in a series, like the Class of 2016 did:

2002: Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sarandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh.

2006: Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, S Sreesanth, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan.

2011: Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun.

How they stack up: Ishant: 3 Tests;  7 wickets at 35.71. Shami: 3 Tests;  11 wickets at 24.54. Ashwin: 3 Tests;  16 wickers at 23.25. Jadeja: 1 Test;  3 wickets at 15.67. Bhuvi: 1 Test;  6 wickets at 7.58. Mishra: 2 Tests;  6 Wickets at 38.0