Staff Writer – Archi
The Indian ‘A’ team might have failed to make their presence felt in their recently-concluded West Indies tour, but the youngsters were bowled over by the beauty of the Caribbean Islands.
The India ‘A’ side played three four-day matches, three one-day matches and two Twenty20 ties on the month-long tour of West Indies in the month of June-July this year.
Back home the boys are facing the heat for their less than impressive show where they lost the three-match ‘Test’ series 2-1 and drew the 3-match ODI and 2-match T20 ties. But for the youngsters it was not only a learning but also a great touring experience.
The Indian side played at Barbados, Kingstown, St Lucia, Port of Spain and Grenada.
India pacer Mohammad Shami Ahmed, who was the most impressive bowler for the side picking up 13 wickets in the three four-day matches, was quite impressed with the country. “I was very excited when I was selected for the West Indies tour,” he said. “I had heard so much about the legendary West Indian pacers like Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Patrik Patterson, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. So to get an opportunity to visit the land of those greats was a great opportunity for me,” he said.
The youngster was, however, sad not to meet any of those greats during the tour. “No I did not have the luck to meet any one of those greats there,” he said. However, he got to meet Chris Gayle and Dwane Bravo there.
“It is a beautiful country,” gushed Shami. “The seas were so blue and the cities were small but neat and clean. I liked their well-managed city traffic too”
Photo courtesy deccanchronicle.com
India team vice-captain Wriddhiman Saha was also happy with the reception they got there. “The people of West Indies are very friendly,” he said. The wicketkeeper found the West Indians to be very relaxed type and always ready to mingle. “We always enjoyed interacting with them,” he said.
With a large number of Indian descendants forming a huge part of West Indies population, the Indian side received good support there too. “Sometimes we even felt that we are in India actually,” Saha joked.
But Shami was disappointed to find the wickets in West Indies to have slowed down so much over the years. “I have heard so much about the fast Windies tracks. But I did not find them helpful for the seamers this time. The Barbados and Kingstown wickets were very slow. It’s no different from the wickets on the Indian sub-continent. I could not make the batsmen play on their backfoot there,” he said.
He only enjoyed bowling on the St Lucia track. “That (St Lucia) wicket had pace and good carry. I enjoyed bowling some short ones there,” he said.
Both the bowler and Saha however felt that the West Indies ‘A’ side was a pretty well organized unit. “They have some very good players and put up a great challenge before us,” Shami said.
“I think West Indies cricket has a good future if these ‘A’ side players grow up properly,” Saha said.
