Opinion: Can Windies avenge their Test series defeat the upcoming ODI series?
The Test series between the India-West Indies is over & the whole world saw how the mighty Indians dominated the Caribbean side. India outclassed the Windies side in the first Test match and thrashed the opposition by an inning and 272 runs. The visiting side failed to put up a show against the No. 1 Test team in the world. Nothing changed in the second Test and India won the match by 10 wickets.
Whatever happened in the Test series should be a thing of the past now. The Jason Holder-led side should now look forward to learning some valuable lessons from the series loss and come out stronger than ever. Windies side has been seeing a transition for a long time now.
All the stalwarts like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Darren Sammy are not a part of the current squad. Gayle, a powerhouse of the Windies side, opted out of the series citing some personal reasons. While Andre Russell has not been included in the ODI squad. Three new youngsters have been included in West Indies line-up for the limited over fixtures.
Chanderpaul Hemraj, all-West Indies Team West Indies Team rounder Fabian Allen and fast bowler Shane Thomas have been drafted into the squad for the five-match ODI series against the Men in Blue. This will be such a huge opportunity for these young guys to go out there and prove the world that West Indies cricket is in safe hands.
The selectors gave a chance to the youngsters as they believe that this would be the right opportunity for young players to prepare for the upcoming ICC Cricket WorldCup in England & Wales. One thing that stops West Indies cricket from blooming is that no young or experienced player wants to play for the country. Evin Lewis, who was a part of the ODI squad, has pulled out from the squad so that he could be available for the league around the world.
Chris Gayle has been doing that for some years now and due to this, the condition of cricket in the Caribbean is going down year after year. The whole world knows that West Indies is not the team what it used to be in the past. Teams were literally afraid of playing the world-class bowling line-up of the Caribbean side, which included the likes of Curtly Ambrose and Courteney Walsh.
But now every team wants to play them because they think that it would be great practice for them ahead of an important series against a big team like Australia or England. Skipper Jason Holder needs to tell his team that they have the capability to stage an upset here. Players like Marlon Samuels, Devendra Bishoo, and Shai Hope have the ability to turn the match on any given day but they turn out to be a disappointment at the crucial moments which they need to avoid.
The first ODI will be played on October 21 in Guwahati and the Jason Holder-led side will set their foot on the ground to give a stern warning to the Indian team that they should not take them lightly. After facing a humiliating defeat in the Test series, West Indies have a mountain to climb if they are to change the course of ODI series.