The curious case of West Indies cricket

They were the winners of the first two World Cups – 1975 beating Australia in the final and 1979, defeating England in the final. They always had been the team to beat those days. Even throughout 80s, though they had not won any World Cups, they still remained the strongest of the lot.

Soon things began to change drastically and in fact, turned rather disastrous in a decade or so. As a result, now the same West Indies, who were the mightiest force in world cricket at one point of time, are now seen continuously wearing the minnows tag. Losing has become a habit for the team and whichever team they face, probably barring Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, they end up on the losing side. It is a real pity to see the team reeling at the bottom in the rankings of both Tests and ODIs.

The question that arises in each of our minds is – where has all the talent that was present in the country gone now? The current West Indies team is hardly a match to the team which was ruling the world three decades back, and I can’t help thinking, how such a strong team could deteriorate to the level they have.

Are the West Indies now short of talent? If this is the case, then what about those cricketers from the Caribbean islands who are playing in the DLF IPL? Of all the foreign players in the IPL, the players from West Indies are the ones who have been performing remarkably better than the rest. Unfortunately, none of these guys are regularly featuring in their national side; be it Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Smith or Marlon Samuels. The energy shown by them in this IPL is quite overwhelming and their respective franchises owe them a lot, as they have literally relied on them for winning matches.

Through this article, I would like to hand pick certain players and give an outline as to how each of them would have played their part in changing the fortunes of their national side.

1. Dwayne Bravo

This former Mumbai Indians player who now plays for CSK, can play multiple roles for his team. You can rely on him as a batsman, as a bowler and also as a fielder. Even if he is successful in two out of the three departments of the game, the team in which he is playing is set to win the match. He may give a few more runs while bowling, but at the same time he can get you a wicket or two. His bowling at the death is crucial, as we have seen in IPLs – he can bowl the ball right in the block-hole during the end overs, even if he might not be able to as consistently as Malinga. Though he can’t be termed as a great fast bowler, he is decent nevertheless, which is good enough for a person who is known as an all-rounder.

About his batting prowess, his batting reminds me of Carl Hooper though he was a far better player. A few of the shots which he plays have a resemblance to the great Carl Hooper; like the lofted cover drives and off drives. He has always been a cool customer as he bats and rarely lets pressure affect him while facing the bowlers. He can be rotated anywhere in the batting order and he can find the boundaries at whatever stage of the game with or without field restrictions. In fact, Mumbai Indians – when they had him playing for them used him as an opener in a few of their games.

As far as his fielding goes, he is very athletic and agile. He always is seen ready to sacrifice his own body if he had to stop a ball. With him on the field, especially in deep, it will be difficult to find boundaries. Besides, he is also a great fielder of his own bowling.

Thus, Bravo is one from the Carribean whose contribution to CSK for the last two years has been really significant to say the least. He would have been a better all-rounder for the West Indies ODIs side which is short of a natural cricketer like him.

2. Chris Gayle

When you talk of RCB, you cannot forget this man. The transformation that Gayle has brought for RCB in the IPL since last year when they first hired him, has been incredible. He has been taking on bowling from different bowlers and dispatching all of them out of the ground, sometimes even out of the stadium. In the last thirty years of cricket, all I can say is that, there had been one Vivian Richards and now there is a Christopher Gayle. Again I am not trying to compare Sir Viv with Gayle but if you have to handpick one guy who intimidates bowlers the same way as Sir Viv Richards did, it has to be Gayle.

Gayle unfortunately, due to the differences with the cricket board has not been playing for so long and now thankfully, the differences have been sorted out. If Gayle plays the same way for the West Indies team as he has been doing in the IPL against quality pace attacks, then God save rest of the international teams. He already has triple hundred scores in Test cricket, all scored at a relatively faster rate. Chris Gayle, when he begins his second innings for the island nation it would be a treat for all cricket lovers.

3. Kieron Pollard

West Indies are playing international ODIs, nowadays sans Kieron Pollard. When West Indies cricket team was playing against Australia, Pollard was playing in the IPL for Mumbai Indians. It is difficult for any nation to find one natural cricketer but West Indies has two of them. One is, as I have already mentioned, Dwayne Bravo and the other one is this man – Kieron Pollard. Like Bravo, Pollard also sparkles in all departments of the game.

His batting down the order, always has been a boon for any team. Most of the teams would aspire to have a cricketer who can be a match winner playing at No.6 or No.7 in the batting order and he is one such player. The height and power that he possesses assist him in the elevation that is required to hit sixes. The timing with which he hits the ball is quite incredible with which he is able to find boundaries at will. He is one of the most dangerous strikers of cricket ball in the modern game. He can make a massive score look totally ridiculous, as he deals mostly in boundaries and sixes. He has not totally exhibited his batting talent playing for Mumbai Indians thus far, but let me tell you he is a much better player than what we have been seeing at the moment.

As far as his bowling goes, like Bravo, he is also a useful bowler. The captain of his team can rely on him to bowl at least, as a stop gap arrangement, if other bowlers are punished. He can bowl a decent four or five overs easily in ODIs and if it is T20, he can have his full quota of four overs with a decent economy rate.

While fielding, he never disappoints; he throws himself all over the field and can really cover ground to catch the ball out of nowhere. He is a very safe and athletic fielder.

Overall, he is one player which every team would love to have but unfortunately, West Indies side is filled with very ordinary cricketers who are not even half as good as him. Truly speaking, he cannot be playing for West Indies in Tests but he can be a real asset for them in the shorter forms.

Sunil Narine

If Malinga is a puzzle for the batsman in the fast bowling category, then Sunil Narine is a puzzle for them in the spin department. Almost all the balls he bowls fox the batsman even if the latter is a very good player of spin bowling. The slow bowlers are often taken for runs by the batsmen in T20 matches but on the contrary, he has a better economy rate throughout this IPL compared to even faster bowlers. Even on flat tracks, his leg spin is very tough to be maneuvered and that’s why, at times, he is seen bowling even the last over in some games, as he concedes less runs. Normally, the runs flow during the last over of T20 matches and so, mostly, it would be reserved for faster bowlers but in his case, KKR has proved that it is worth taking the risk with him and they have been successful doing it.

This man would not only be useful in T20s and ODIs, but would be a very successful bowler even in Test cricket. He can be the front-line spinner for the West Indies team which is yet to see one after Lance Gibbs.

Marlon Samuels

The very sullen looking team of the Pune Warriors has a very few useful players with them and one of them is Marlon Samuels. Compared to the other West Indies players whom I have mentioned, he may not look great, but he is a fantastic all-rounder. Though his action has come under scrutiny in this IPL, Ganguly has defended his action and rightfully so. Samuels has been bowling good length and line and though he is not a great spinner of the ball he can chip in with one or two tight overs which can turn a match around. The wickets he gets are a bonus for his team and so he is a very useful bowler in every sense.

As far as his batting goes, like any all-rounder, he is a power player. He can hit the ball a long way to the boundary and whenever his team requires, he can stand up and bat down the order. He cannot be fitted into the West indies side for Test matches but he can be a good ODI player for them.

Dwayne Smith

At the beginning of this year’s IPL, this man was seen nowhere; not even on the bench or dug out of the team. However, the injury of Kieron Pollard gave him an opportunity with the Mumbai Indians. We say “he came, he saw and he conquered” when we talk of warriors like Alexander the Great. Precisely the same applies to Smith too. The first time when he got an opportunity to play for Mumbai Indians in this IPL, his team was reeling with wickets falling at regular intervals chasing a target of 173 against the defending IPL champs, Chennai Super Kings. Smith left the Super Kings stunned, while the Mumbai crowd went berserk due to his late cameo that steered the Mumbai Indians to victory.

And West Indies do not seem to have him starring in their national side regularly. Is that not strange? I think that one game was enough to elucidate what Smith is capable of.

Now, coming back to the sorry state of affairs of West Indies cricket at the moment, all I can say is that their talents are blatantly on display in DLF IPL. It is for the West Indies Cricket Board to rebuild a good team with a good composition of players if it has to come anywhere close to the glories of 1970s and 1980s. They have the required talent, but the only thing is heir national side is playing with players who are below par. If all the players mentioned above can do wonders for their respective club team in parts, imagine if all of them play in a single team.

The world will not be enough to challenge a side of such a combination of players.