5 Talking Points from West Indies - India Test series

Virat Kohli's India may not have managed to claim a whitewash over the West Indies but the fact that they won two matches in the same tour, which is something they had never done before speaks about the impressive performance put on by the side.

After claiming victory in the first Test quite comfortably, the chances of a whitewash looked good but thanks to combination of factors, that wasn't possible. Yet the performance of the likes of KL Rahul and Wriddhiman Saha, who both finished among the top five run scorers in the series would certainly please Kohli.

There were sparks of brilliance from the hosts as well as they toiled hard to avoid an ignominy they had previously never suffered at the hands of India.

Here are the major talking points from the series:

Light at the end of the tunnel for West Indies

A combination of rain and resistance may have saved West Indies from a whitewash but there were still a few positives for the reigning World T20 champions to take away from the series. While their batting was often found wanting and their bowling at times, failed to capitalise on a good start, there were still a few silver linings in the dark clouds that hover over West Indies' Test team.

The debut performance of Alzarri Joseph was one that would have been welcomed by several West Indian legends who have been championing his promotion to the Test team. Capable of bowling with hostile pace and aggression, his arrival was a breath of air in the West Indian bowling attack.

As far as the batting is concerned, Kraigg Brathwaite showed just why he is one of the side's most consistent batsmen of late and the lower-order exploits of Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich helped bail out the inconsistent top-order. With the pieces of what can be a good Test side, Windies will hope to capitalise on this and build for the future in the longest format of the game.

Kohli's Indian summer continues

If the Indian Test captain Virat Kohli had any control over time, he wouldn't want 2016 to end. After beginning the year with impressive performances in the ODI series against Australia, he went on break every record in the book in T20Is. There were still a few doubts about whether he could continue that in the longest format of the game.

Although he scored his maiden first-class double century and finishing as the leading scorer, his numbers in the Test series aren't as impressive as his performance earlier in the year. That though, might just be down to his outright ridiculous numbers until. An average in excess of 50 in any format of the game is considered as impressive but Kohli's numbers make them so average.

With an average of 125 in T20Is in 2016, 76.20 in ODIs this year, 251 runs at an average of 62.75 doesn't seem as impressive. But that will be something he will be looking to improve as the year rolls on.

Not a cakewalk by any means

While it is fair to say that West Indies are nowhere near the side that ruled the world a few decades ago, they have shown time and again that at home, they can compete with the best. They might have lost to Australia convincingly in their last tour down under but at home last year, they gave them a fright before surrendering the advantage and drew 1-1 against an impressive England side at home.

So while there might have been a few that would have predicted a whitewash, the fact that no Indian captain had ever won two matches in a series before merely highlighted the difficulty of the task at hand. After winning the first Test comfortably, those dreams of a whitewash returned.

But a combination of rain, some rear-guard resistance from the West Indies and some resilience from both the batsmen and the bowlers meant that the series wasn't as easy as some might have thought. On pitches that don't offer massive amounts of help to the bowlers, taking 20 wickets isn't easy unless you have help from the opponents, which was evident the longer the series went on.

Ashwin solving Indian all-rounder woes

Ashwin didn’t let extra responsibility with bat affect his bowling

Given the results-oriented nature of modern-day Tests it isn't always possible to have a team full of specialists. While there will always be place for people who just do one thing perfectly, there is a need to have at least an all-rounder in the side to help with the balance of the side. And India have been on the lookout for a good all-rounder for a very long time.

Ravichandran Ashwin's performances after being promoted to No.6 in the series with both bat and ball bodes well for the future, especially in overseas tours. Not only did he finish the series as the leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets but he also scored more runs than all but three players in the series and finished it with an average of nearly 60 with the bat in the series.

No batsman scored more than Ashwin's two centuries and the confidence he showed at the crease suggests the move to promote him was the right one. With an assured presence with the bat and the ability to take wickets in heaps with the ball, the player from Tamil Nadu might just turn into the all-rounder India have always been looking for but never been able to actually find.

Unresolved issues still linger

Where does KL Rahul’s form put Murali Vijay?

India might have won the series without losing a game but it was by no means a series that offered all the answers that were looking for. Virat Kohli might not be too fussed about where he bats in the side but a settled batting line-up has always been key to a successful team and right now that isn't something this side has.

The injury to Murali Vijay and impressive performances by both KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan means that even the position of one of the country's most consistent batsman over the past few years isn't guaranteed of a place in the XI. The addition of Rohit Sharma for the last two Tests meant the batting order had to be shuffled once again.

While it always helps to have a pool of players who are always available to step in if someone goes out of form, India do need to figure out their batting order soon. As far as the bowling is concerned with 13 home Tests on the agenda, spinners are likely to dominate the proceedings as far as selection is concerned but the performance of Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar should give the selectors some food for thought.