"Forget about winning or competitiveness, this team doesn't even play 50 overs" - Aakash Chopra says West Indies are in dire straits

Aakash Chopra has said that the West Indies are in an extremely poor situation in ODI cricket. They have failed to bat out their full quota of 50 overs in most of their last few games.

West Indies will lock horns with India in a three-match ODI series, with the first game to be played at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Friday, July 22. The two teams will also play a five-match T20I series after the ODI leg.

While previewing the first ODI in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted the hosts' recent struggles in 50-over cricket, explaining:

"West Indies are in such dire straits that if you see the last 39 50-over matches, they have been able to play the entire 50 overs just six times. Forget about winning or competitiveness, this team doesn't even play 50 overs."

The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that the Windies have lost almost 60% of their last 39 ODIs. Chopra elaborated:

"They get out before that, whatever might be the pitch, whether they are batting first or second, they just do not last 50 overs. That's the sad reality. They have lost 23 matches out of that. They don't win also; neither do they win; nor are they able to bat well. Their situation is very bad."

The West Indies have lost their last two ODI series by identical 3-0 margins against Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively. They were also whitewashed 3-0 by the Men in Blue when they visited India earlier this year.

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"There has been a change in captaincy as well" - Aakash Chopra on West Indies' issues

Nicholas Pooran will lead West Indies against India

Aakash Chopra added that apart from the recent hammering by Bangladesh, the hosts will also be up against an Indian team that enjoys playing in Port of Spain. He said:

"There has been a change in captaincy as well; Pooran has been given the captaincy. They had matches in Guyana against Bangladesh; the ball was turning a lot; they were not liking that, and we play very well in Trinidad."

The former player concluded by pointing out that Virat Kohli has probably missed a great opportunity to regain his form at his happy hunting ground. Chopra said:

"Kohli has done amazingly well against this team. An interesting question was - Was this an opportunity to play Kohli? I am saying that because his last three scores against this side in Trinidad are 87 in 2017, 120 in 2019 and 114* in a run chase."

Kohli has amassed 538 runs at an outstanding average of 107.60 in seven games against the West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval. He also has an excellent overall record against the Caribbean team, scoring 2261 runs at an average of 66.50 in 42 ODIs.