“We just need to keep improving.”

These are the words West Indies skipper Jason Holder has often used during the current four-Test series. This is a young team, still finding its identity while cricket in the Caribbean is torn between the classic idea of Test cricket and the modern pull of the Twenty20 era.

Like any competitive team, they want to win, as Holder pointed out. But it is a step-by-step process. First, they need to improve, a lot, and then strive for consistency. Then they have to guard against regression. “We need to make sure that we do not take two steps backwards,” he had said, after the stunning fightback in Jamaica.

Unfortunately, for an inexperienced side, it is easy to slip back into old habits. Just about a week ago, they had managed a superlative draw in the second Test on the back of Roston Chase’s defiant hundred. On Saturday, all of that good work evaporated, as West Indies were bowled out for 108 in the second innings, thus surrendering a 2-0 lead to India.

Let it be said here that, faced with a 346-run target, there were only two possible outcomes – a draw or an Indian win. Eighty-seven overs, two and a half sessions. The equation was skewed, yes, but for a team looking for consistency and improvement, this was the perfect platform. And the pitch made the challenge steeper, in the sense that it had something in it for the bowlers on day five. Just a little bit more than the Sabina Park wicket, which had gone to sleep thanks to constant rain.

Here, the day three washout had freshened up the track once more, after it looked to be flattening out on day two. For the West Indies to fight would have taken some doing. None of their batsmen, barring Darren Bravo and his fifty, put their hand up. It was not what Holder was looking for, and this meek surrender was singularly representative of the time warp West Indies cricket finds itself in. A step forward in that they reduced India to 130/5, and then two back, in the words of their own skipper.

India just got better

Improvement, though, is not only for weaker teams. It is also the mark of champions, of teams striving to be the number one Test side in world cricket. For India, the drawn second Test was a body blow to their five-pronged attack. How did they end up not taking six wickets on a day five pitch?

Coach Anil Kumble had spoken about an adjustment in plans, and three changes were duly made for this third Test. Among them, Amit Mishra was expectedly left out, and the debate on Rohit Sharma’s eligibility will rage for some time to come. The key change here was the inclusion of Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of Umesh Yadav.

It was an odd selection. Yadav had not fared too badly in the first two Tests, though perhaps he was just a touch inconsistent in the second innings in Jamaica. He was bowling to a plan, the short ball tactic deployed by his captain. If he did not get the requisite success, it was a questionable strategy call on a wicket that had slowed down.

Even so, this selection came under the purview of the captain’s prerogative – he opted for a particular bowler, and a certain attacking approach, based on his reading of the pitch. If Kohli had erred a week ago, he was bang on with his assessment in St Lucia.

By including both Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja, Kohli then gave himself the control that would have been necessary on a flat track. As it is, rain did not rob the Indian bowlers of their due for a second week running, and left just a wee bit in the pitch at the Darren Sammy Stadium. If Kumar single-handedly exploited that on day four, the well-rounded five-bowler attack used the same pitch as a pack on day five.

Both eyes on the target

“The team is feeling happy with the manner in which we executed our plans, especially after how we didn’t have play in Jamaica, and then we lost a day here as well. We really wanted to win the series in this Test and now we can go and express ourselves in Trinidad. We can explore what areas we need to improve in,” said Kohli, after the victory.

This reiterates the Indian team’s goal of achieving the number one Test status in this lengthy 2016-17 season, and they can now do it with a win in the last Test. It is not to say that it will be easily achieved, for there are obvious improvements needed, particularly in the newfound batting line-up that Kohli is professing.

But this Indian team has shown the willingness to do it – to choose a particular path and keep chipping at the challenge until they conquer it, and then move on to the next level. This bunch of players has progressed in this manner ever since they were a young, inexperienced side setting off for the tour of South Africa in 2013, following the same process for three years to become a well-rounded Test side today. West Indies will do well to learn from their example.