West Indies captain Roston Chase said that he spoke with Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Richie Richardson, all of whom were in Delhi ahead of the 2nd Test. (PTI Photo)West Indies were blown away by India in the first Test and the victory for the hosts was so unsurprising that the bigger headlines of the day was of Shubman Gill becoming ODI captain, something that wouldn’t have happened back in the days of Viv Richards, Richie Richardson and Brian Lara. The second Test is set to be played in New Delhi and the three West Indies legends were in the city ahead of it. West Indies captain Roston Chase has said that Richards, Lara and Richardson met him two days before the first day and tried to lift his spirits.
“Yes, we had a team event yesterday, and I had the privilege of speaking with all three (Richards, Lara and Richardson) of them. They told me to keep believing — we may be down at the moment, but things will change,” Chase said on the eve of the Test match.
“That change can start now, and it begins with the belief and mindset of every player. My focus is to keep motivating the guys so that we continue playing positive cricket and turn around our current situation.”
The gulf in quality between the two sides was visible across departments in the first Test. While are missing two key pacers in Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph, their fast bowling spearhead Jayden Seales managed to take just one wicket in India’s lone innings, although he also maintained an economy of 2.78 in 19 overs. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets and Mohammed Siraj took four in West Indies’ first innings. Siraj took three more wickets in the second. Justin Greaves was West Indies’ highest scorer in the first innings with just 32 runs and Athanaze top scored in the second with just 38. In stark contrast, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja all scored centuries while Gill scored exactly 50 runs.
Chase said that lack of quality among Test batters is largely due to the standard of first-class cricket in the islands. “I can’t speak for everyone, but from my own perspective, it comes down to confidence and playing enough quality first-class cricket.
“The more time you spend facing good bowling attacks, the more you learn to handle pressure and improve on your weaknesses. When you start your career, opponents don’t know much about you, but after a few matches, they pick on your flaws. It’s up to the players to identify those areas early and work hard to correct them,” he explained.
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