Testing time ahead for Indian hopefuls

The last time a West Indies team came to India was in the early 90s. By the time that relatively weak team was through with the tour, Courtn...

The last time a West Indies team came to India was in the early 90s. By the time that relatively weak team was through with the tour, Courtney Walsh’s ‘poppatwadi’ attack (as some former Test stars derisively labelled the pace attack of that team) had virtually ended the international career of Vinod Kambli.

Carl Hooper, the skipper of the present West Indies was a part of that team, as was paceman Cameroon Cuffy. Both the players as well as coach Roger Harper and chairman of selection committee Viv Richards know that the current West Indies team is not a patch on even that Walsh-led side.

THE TEAMS

West Indies: Carl Hooper (captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ryan Hinds, Gareth Breese, Ridley Jacobs, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Cameroon Cuffy, Darren Powell, Jermaine Lawson.

Story continues below this ad

Board President’s XI: Md Kaif (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, Dinesh Mongia, Hemang Badani, Parthiv Patel (w.k.), Sarandeep Singh, Murali Kartik, Amit Mishra, L Balaji, Tinu Yohannan, Irfan Pathan, Aakash Chopra, Ajay Ratra.

The once-feared West Indies team has, since the heady days in late 70s and 80s, gone into a free fall. Walsh, with considerable help from Hooper, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams, kept the West Indies reputation in tact in the early 90s. But now even that reputation is lost.

But Hooper believes that the last few years have helped the team move up the learning curve.

‘‘We have to now deliver. We have a good bunch of youngsters who have been doing well of late. The potential is there and we hope to do well in both Tests and one-dayers,’’ he said.

Story continues below this ad

Hooper picked out Gareth Breese, right hand batsman and off-spin bowler, and Darren Powell, fast bowler, as the youngsters to watch out for on the tour.

EAM Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Rubio hold bilateral discussions in New York

India39 min ago

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and US Senator Rubio met in New York to discuss the 25% tariff on Indian oil imposed by Trump. This was their first in-person meeting since the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. India and the US also began talks for a trade agreement, with positive discussions during a recent visit by US trade officials to India.

View all shorts

Live Blog