Brathwaite ready to take on India, credits Lara for invaluable advice

West Indies Test Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and his team are gearing up for the first Test against India starting on July 12 in Dominica. The West Indies Test skipper credited the legendary Brian Lara, who is performing mentorship/batting coach duties with the squad in Antigua.
“It’s important to start well,” he said. “We are playing against India, so you know the guys are really looking forward to it. Dominica will host the first Test match, and we call for the supporters in Dominica to come out and support us – but the guys are really looking forward to the first two Test matches of this cycle.”
Brathwaite added: “That’s great, you know, in terms of the 100th Test match against Inda, and it’s in Trinidad, and you know they love their cricket there, so I think it’s important, and we have to try to make the Region proud. The guys have put some good effort in the last three days, and they still have a few days left and you know we have kept pushing hard.”

Lara worked with the team earlier in the year on the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa, and Brathwaite said he has a positive influence on the players.
“It’s great to have him here. In terms of the conversations we have with him, we always learn and he is big on planning… on how you are going to score your runs. His advice on situations is great and it will only help the batters,” Brathwaite said.
Meanwhile, India are in Barbados playing an intra-squad two-day practice match, which also features eight West Indies First-Class players. The eight Caribbean players are mixed with the Indian players to compete in the two-day game.
India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain); Ajinkya Rahane (Vice Captain); Shubman Gill; Ruturaj Gaikwad; Virat Kohli; Yashasvi Jaiswal; KS Bharat (wicketkeeper); Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper); Ravichandran Ashwin; Ravindra Jadeja; Shardul Thakur; Axar Patel; Mohammed Siraj; Mukesh Kumar; Jaydev Unadkat and Navdeep Saini.
West Indies Test camp squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain); Alick Athanaze; Jermaine Blackwood; Nkrumah Bonner; Tagenarine Chanderpaul; Rahkeem Cornwall; Joshua Da Silva; Shannon Gabriel; Kavem Hodge; Akeem Jordan; Jair McAllister; Kirk McKenzie; Marquino Mindley; Anderson Phillip; Raymon Reifer; Kemar Roach; Jayden Seales; Jomel Warrican and Bryan Charles.
WI v India Test Match Schedule:
Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Matches (start at 10am local time, (9am Jamaica time))
July 12-16: 1st Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Windsor Park, Dominica
July 20-24: 2nd Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad