Is Oshane Thomas the next big thing in world cricket?
On 4th November 2018, Oshane Thomas rolled back time to the late 1970s, when the “Big Bird” Joel Garner played. Standing over 6 feet tall, Thomas unsettled the Indian batsmen and sent back both the openers in his second over.
The Jamaican's ability to consistently bowl over 145 kph left the Indian batsmen dazed, as they barely got any time to even understand what was going on. His first wicket, of Rohit Sharma, came in the very first over of the game. It was an inside edge which went towards the wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who dived to his left to take a brilliant catch.
Playing his third international match against India, Thomas was third time lucky against Shikhar Dhawan as he once again got his wicket. He beat the left-hander with his pace, leaving his stumps shattered in his second over as India lost both its openers.
Making his T20I debut at Kolkata, Thomas combined really well with the Windies captain Carlos Brathwaite to trouble the Indian batsmen in the first half of their chase. His figures of 2 for 21 in 4 overs brought back the memories of the time when batsmen all over the world feared playing the Windies bowlers.
The 21-year-old made his debut in the ODI series against India on the 21st of October. The start wasn’t a memorable one in terms of his performance though, as he went for 83 runs in his 10 over spell while picking up one wicket. In his second ODI, he conceded 33 runs and bagged one wicket in the 4 overs he bowled as India comfortably chased down the target of 105 in 15 overs.
Thomas had earlier ended as the second highest wicket-taker for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the 2018 Caribbean Premier League. He picked up 18 wickets in 10 games at a remarkable average of 17.66.
It is still early in Thomas' international career, but he has shown all the right signs in the three matches he has played so far. If he continues putting in the hard yards and making improvements to his game, Windies cricket could well have the next Joel Garner on their hands.