The West Indies cricket team has been forced to carry out their training in the UAE ahead of their tour of India beginning October 4. The BCCI refused to grant the Windies players any training facilities in India in order to prepare for the upcoming series. The Caribbeans are scheduled to play a total of 2 Test matches, 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is in India until mid-November, after which the Indians will travel to Australia for a lengthy series Down Under.
Windies head coach Stuart Law expressed his disappointment at the BCCI’s decision to not provide them with any training facilities. He felt the visiting team would have been more a lot more at ease if they trained in India. The West Indies team was supposed to arrive in India on September 10. However, they are currently training at the ICC Global Academy in the UAE.
During a chat with Times of India, Law said, “We tried to get to India but we were told that there weren’t any places available for us. It would have been nice to be in India. There would have been less travel. The ICC Global Academy said they have cricket going on and thus offered us to come over here. But what you have to take we have got. We are enjoying ourselves.”
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BCCI has all reason for their action as they weren’t able to accommodate the West Indies cricket team because of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, which is India’s domestic List A tournament featuring 37 teams. On an average, on every day there are around 12 matches played simultaneously. The tournament will coincide with part of the West Indies series as the Vijay Hazare Trophy will conclude on October 20.
In a statement, BCCI said, “We have so many teams this season. To accommodate them at a time when the domestic season has got underway would always be difficult.”
Stuart Law’s primary intent is to ensure that his players get used to the longer format before they take on the No.1 ranked team in the first Test. The majority of the Windies players are coming here fresh off the Caribbean Premier League and will need to change the mindset to the longer format.
Law asserted, “The players are just back from CPL. The camp is to get them back into the red-ball mode and get used to the heat. It’s very hard to keep the boys together as they live on different islands. We need a window.”
Rajkot will host the first Test which begins on October 4, while Hyderabad has been awarded the second Test.
