Despite the fact that current West Indies squad don’t have much experience of playing in the Indian conditions, their skipper Jason Holder believes his team can take on the world number one side in a way like it has done against other top teams such as England. After a memorable win against England at Leeds last year, the West Indies have had a decent 2018 as they drew with Sri Lanka at home before beating the visiting Bangladesh side.
The Windies team doesn’t lack in talent but it has little idea of playing in India with only five members of the 15-man squad having featured in a Test in the country. Skipper Holder, who himself has not played a Test in India, however, remains confident of a win.
On the eve of the first Test in Rajkot, Jason said, “It is a great challenge and everyone is up for it. We have pushed top teams in the last few years. This group has shown what they can do. We are just focused on playing good cricket and would not like to be drawn in personal battles.”
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The Windies team is clear with its game plans having spent a week in Dubai before playing a two-day warm-up in Baroda.
Talking about the same, Holder said, “Patience plays a massive role in India. We need to stick to games plans and not get into one-on-one battles. We have discussed how we are going to score runs against their quality attack. One of the things I spoke about was patience, capitalizing on every opportunity to score. Not be reckless at the same time but have a clear game plan to score.”
The Caribbean team has its strength in their pace attack though they will be missing the services of Kemar Roach in the series opener after the lead fast bowler had to rush back home following the death of his grandmother. The pitch in Rajkot has a bit of grass covering and Holder is not complaining.
As the skipper said, “It (pitch) was covered when I came today but there seems to be a bit of grass. The practice facilities are brilliant in Gujarat. But like I said cricket is played on the day. It is about executing your plans.”
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In recent times, West Indies have produced a bunch of T20 players like Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard and since they are a force to reckon with in the shortest format, but the same term can’t be said for them in the five-day format as well. At least in the current set-up, Holder said there are many who rate Test cricket as the pinnacle of the game.
Expressing his thoughts on the same, Jason said, “A couple of days ago I was just chatting around in the dressing room. I highlighted how much of a joy and pride I feel in playing Tests. I love all formats but Test is my favorite. It was shocking to know that most, if not everyone, said that they want to be successful Test players. Even during CPL T20, you see young players showing eagerness to play Test cricket. There is often talk about Test cricket dying but if youngsters coming in the Caribbean are looking forward to playing Tests, the format will stay for a long long time.”
In the end, Holder paid a glowing tribute to outgoing coach Stuart Law, who will part ways with the team after the India and Bangladesh tour. He said that Stuart has definitely brought in a lot of order to West Indies cricket as the coach has put the structures in place and there is no doubt that he will be missed.
