Time for young players to prove worth: WI skipper

KOLKATA: Like Rohit Sharma, Carlos Brathwaite isn’t in charge of the 50-over team. But if Rohit spoke at length about getting players tested ahead of the 50-over World Cup next year, for Brathwaite the focus was all on the WorldT20 in Australia in 2020. We want to use all the games between now and the T20 World Cup to get the team ready, he said. “Hopefully, I will be in charge.”

“We would like to use each and every series to get the right balance for all conditions and establish a brand of cricket we want to play by the time of the 2020 World Cup,” he said.

Like India, who have rewarded performance in the IPL, Brathwaite said West Indies team has players who did well in the last Caribbean Premier League which was won by Trinbago Knight Riders.

“The message to them was: perform in the CPL and you will be selected. This too is to create a pool of players for the 2020 World Cup.

“There was a time when we were blessed with the Dwayne Bravos, the Chris Gayles and the Sunil Narines in their pomp and we would sometimes take T20 games for granted. If we fielded our best team, 90% of the time we would win, we felt. Those guys are now at the backend of their careers and we are looking to the next generation. The tours of India and Bangladesh will be a challenge for these young guys against some of the best in the world,” he said.

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We would like to use every series to get the right balance for all conditions and establish a brand of cricket we want to play by the time of the 2020 (T20) World Cup

C BRATHWAITE, Windies skipper

ADAPTABILITY

And though Brathwaite said he felt T20 is a format the West Indies adapted to better than most when it started which explained their supremacy in the format, such is the weight of the India team that the world champions don’t start as favourites.

“We are not accustomed to being underdogs but we are not ashamed of it. We are new, exciting team and I think we did a lot better than what people expected in the one-day series. Yes, India start as favourites but we hope to go back with the trophy,” said Brathwaite.

Crucial to doing that would be how West Indies tackle the Indian spinners and Brathwaite said while they respect Kuldeep Yadav and Yujvendra Chahal— “they have spun a web around many teams not just tyeh West Indies,” he said. They are not going to put a target as to how many runs they should look to score of them.

West Indies batsmen found the going tough against Kuldeep in the ODI series where he emerged the leading wickettaker with nine wickets. India thrashed West Indies 3-1 in the ODIs and 2-0 in the Test series.