West Indies could give Virat Kohli's Indian cricket team tough challenge: Sir Viv Richards

India and West Indies endured mixed fortunes in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. While India lost only one game and qualified for the semi-final where they lost to New Zealand in a pulsating match in Old Trafford, West Indies managed to win only two league games as they finished eighth in the points table only above Afghanistan, who lost all their games. Following the end of the World Cup, both sides now gear up to face each other for three Twenty20 Internationals, three ODIs and two Tests which begin from August 3. With India having dominated the West Indies in all formats in the last encounter at home in October 2018, Virat Kohli's side will be expected to dominate in the Caribbean as well.

However, former West Indies cricketer and legend Sir Viv Richards believes West Indies could pose a challenge to India in the upcoming series. "India-West Indies series have always seen explosive action and I don't expect anything less this time around. With the current form of the West Indies team, I look forward to them giving a tough competition to the Indian side," Richards said in a media release issued by official broadcasters Sony.

In the last tour of the West Indies, India managed to win the four-match Test series 2-0 but lost the two Twenty20 International series 1-0 after losing the first match in a high-scoring thriller by one run. West Indies had made 245 and a KL Rahul century almost put India on course for a win but Dwayne Bravo held his nerve as West Indies restricted India to 244 to win a world record encounter.

The two-Test series between West Indies and India will be played in Antigua and Jamaica and it will be part of the two-year World Test Championship. The first series of the World Test Championship will be the Ashes contest between England and Australia in Edgbaston on August 1.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• India has not lost a Test series in West Indies since 2002.
• India won the four-Test series in 2016 2-0.
• The World Test Championship begins on August 1.