Test cricket, they say, is all about consistency. The batsmen look to get their footwork right, get behind the line of the ball in defending, or play it under their eyes, pouncing on the loose delivery. Take stance, concentrate, repeat.

The bowlers tend to pitch it in the proper channels, depending on whether they're holding their line or attacking the batsmen. They, too, aim to do this on each of the six deliveries in an over, and then again the next over, and so on.

You get the basics right, repeat the same thing over and over, and hope to force the issue. But on day one of the third Test against the West Indies at St Lucia, India digressed from this basic principle of striving for consistency.

Some changes in the playing eleven were expected. Conditions had altered drastically from Antigua, through Jamaica, to St Lucia, and Virat Kohli has always professed a horses-for-courses approach. More importantly, India’s team selection in this series has been shaped by their desire to play five bowlers, and injury, in that order. And it came unstuck at Sabina Park in Jamaica in the second Test, when their five-bowler attack couldn’t take six wickets on a Day 5 pitch.

Amit Mishra had bowled poorly, and he was expected to make way for Ravindra Jadeja. Umesh Yadav was wayward too, and it was the captain’s prerogative to bring in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as per his reading of this pitch.

The middle-order muddle

But the inclusion of Rohit Sharma, ahead of both Cheteshwar Pujara and a fit-again Murali Vijay, was surprising. What was the need for this change? Did Sharmas' recent form warrant it? Did the others’ poor form necessitate it?

Pujara did reasonably well in his 159-ball 46-run essay in the second Test, and while his strike-rate there has been debated, it was not the reason India didn’t win that match. In fact, his innings was one of the reasons they had posted 500-plus again, and moved into an advantageous position.

“It is about giving everyone enough chances,” said Kohli at the toss, explaining this move. But surely Sharma has been given enough opportunities in his international career, beginning in 2007-08? That he has not achieved a permanent Test spot is down to his own failures.

Has Vijay been given his chances though? In 2011, he was dropped after a poor series in the West Indies and had to wait another two years. Since then, he has worked hard and scored enough runs across different conditions to warrant a place in India’s first-choice eleven, whenever fit.

Yet, as batting coach Sanjay Bangar confirmed after the day’s play, the “final toss-up was between Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan”. He didn’t explain how the team management decided that Sharma could just walk into the eleven after four Test knocks 2, 23, 1 and 0.

Nor did Bangar explain why, after this dubious selection, Sharma was not asked to bat at No. 3. He didn’t explain just why the think tank decided to disturb the settled Indian line-up to accommodate a batsman with no real reason to be included.

Bangar did, meanwhile, say this about the pitch at the Darren Sammy Stadium, “I think it is quite a challenging Test wicket and not easy for the batsmen to straightaway play their strokes. They have to be very watchful and play the ball under their eye. It was seaming a bit and it was stopping a bit as well. It was a very challenging wicket for the first day for batting.”

On a wobbly pitch, then, India’s best Test opener in the last couple of seasons was forced to sit out. On a fresh wicket, where the West Indies’ four pacers were making the ball talk, the team’s best Test batsmen, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, were forced to abandon the confines of their regular batting positions and start afresh.

And in a tough situation of 77/3, Sharma was made to endure another failure, scoring all of 9 runs. Was there any need to put him under this immense pressure? Was there any need to do any of this at all?

Ashwin saves the day, just

India’s strategy in this series has been to bat once, and for long. At 134/5 in the post-lunch session, it did seem as if they would be batting a second time in this third Test. That eventuality was delayed by a masterful half-century from Ravichandran Ashwin, and his unbeaten 104-run stand with Wriddhiman Saha.

This series has been a personal mission for Ashwin. He has already made a mark with the red cherry – he needed to prove a few things playing overseas. That has happened here too, with successive five-wicket hauls in Antigua and Jamaica. It was a matter of time. But this is a fiercely competitive cricketer we are talking about, who isn't easily satiated.

Ashwin is a thinking cricketer who knows his strengths, and weaknesses too. There was an earlier time when he looked to make progress with the bat, but his development as a bowler denied him that chance. Now, a much experienced spinner, he has learnt how to keep these two aspects of his game distinct. The result is for everyone to see.

On Tuesday then, he stood tall against a penetrative West Indies bowling attack. He did the simple things, looking to leave the ball at every possible opportunity, negating Roston Chase’s leg-side plan, and scoring runs when the harder, new ball came into play.

There was this one moment that reflected his quality amply. He was caught off a Shannon Gabriel no ball when he was on 35. He buckled down, and repeated his processes. At stumps, he had more than doubled his personal score, moving to 74, and taking the score past the 200-mark.

On a day of needless chopping and changing, Ashwin was the constant between disaster and relative safety for India.

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