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The two-Test series between India and West Indies ended with a draw as rain played spoilsport on the final day. India missed out on a chance to whitewash the inexperienced Caribbean side. While West Indies batters showed promise in the second Test, they had no answer to the Ravichandran Ashwin in the first Test and lost it by an innings and 141 runs. The massive defeat was followed by widespread criticism. Amidst the criticism, former Indian cricketer-turned commentator Deep Dasgupta has offered a solution to improve West Indies’ red-ball cricket.
“Bottom-line is there is potential, there is talent coming through in red-ball cricket. We’ve seen the younger lot come through, but to make the West Indies Test team a success or competitive, what they really need to do is play more and more of this format,” Dasgupta said.
Over the last few years, T20 leagues have given players lucrative deals that have led to players moving away from the longest format. Dasgupta feels Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can help West Indies by allowing the Caribbean cricketers to play in Ranji Trophy, similar to what England’s County Championship.
“Ideally you want them to play as many Test matches as possible, against competitive sides, the top 4-5 sides, but at times that’s not possible or practical. That leads to me a left-field idea, which is if West Indies Cricket can identify a few players and BCCI agrees to allow these players to play first-class cricket here in India,” the 46-year-old said.
“It happens for a couple of months, October-November, West Indies can release 4-5 of the youngsters like McKenzie and Alick and a few of their predominantly red ball bowlers. In India we have 38 First-class sides, we can easily absorb 4-5-6 players like that, which could be a great help to West Indies cricket and make them more competitive.”
Ranji Trophy is a tournament where international players are not allowed. But if BCCI were to change its policies, it could benefit West Indies or lower-ranked Test-playing nations.
Might be a very left-field idea, but an idea that I think can be useful,” the Bengal batter concluded.
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