"I need an extra padding to play this youngster"

As I watch India tour the Caribbean, memories come flooding in. The West Indies has always been very close to my heart - I debuted against them and incidentally finished my ODI career against them.

The first time I laid eyes on a West Indian cricketer was when I was a part of an Indian School's team that toured the islands. Here we were, all in the age group of 15 and thereabouts, travelling overseas to play in a country that ruled world cricket at the time. The tour was a stepping stone for us kids and offered great learning experiences for me and my teammates. I played alongside Maninder Singh, Shiva Rama Krishnan and Saba Karim - all of them went on to don national colours.

The organisers provided us with stay-at- home facilities and arranged accommodation with the local families. Therefore, our exposure wasn't restricted to just cricket. Instead, we soaked in the local culture as well.

The cricket in itself highly competitive. The West Indies has always been a tough place for visiting fast bowlers to operate. Even at the school cricket level, the local batsmen played fast bowlers with ease.

Dreams came true at 15

As a plucky teenager, I wanted to make the tour count and leave an impression on the team management. Unfortunately, I struggled at the outset. However, we were lucky to have the legendary Chandu Borde as coach. He constantly motivated me and provided me with vital tips in order to tackle the West Indies batsmen. And his impact wasn't limited to just coaching. Mr. Borde also organised gatherings and arranged for us to meet and interact with superstars like Sir Garfield Sobers and several others. Our dreams had become reality and we were just gawky teenagers.

The West Indies batsmen weren't adequately equipped to play spinners and Maninder and Shiva performed brilliantly. Their performances highly impressed the national selectors and the duo made the senior national side at just 17-years of age.

That schools tour was a godsend for all of us. It gave us visibility to the selectors and with two players being selected for the national side, there was hope for the rest of us.

Immediately after returning from the West Indies tour, I was handed a chance to play Ranji Trophy. I was 16 at the time and I managed 25 wickets in my very first season. In 1983, after the World Cup, the West Indies toured India. I was doing well in first-class cricket and hence, was picked for North Zone against the touring giants. The game was played at Amritsar and given that it was my very first international game, the outing will always be extremely close to my heart. And it was a memorable game too as I took my first wicket off the very first ball of the match. I sent back Gordon Greenidge. I followed it up by claiming the priceless wicket of Vivian Richards and then, I dismissed Jeff Dujon.

A memorable quote from a legend

After the game, Sir Viv Richards spoke to the press and said, "I need an extra padding to play this youngster Chetan Sharma.” It was a remarkable statement for me and my career. The selectors then picked me in the West of India squad to play West Indies at Nagpur. I bagged 3 wickets and did well again. This time, Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding had words of praise for me and called me a future prospect for the Indian team.

Based on these performances, I was called up for the national side in the Calcutta Test against West Indies. The main idea was for me to gain field experience and share the dressing room with likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev.

Following this, I earned my India stripes in the ODI leg of the home series in 1983. It was at Jamshedpur where I made my ODI debut in the fourth match of the series. I was 17.

The West Indies put up 333 on the board from 45 overs and I managed figures of 60/3. This was the beginning of my international cricketing career and my love affair with the charismatic West Indies.

Chetan Sharma is a former Indian cricketer and represented India in 23 Tests and 65 ODIs. He was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in ICC Cricket World Cup history.