Home Letters WI selectors and administrators must stop sporting with sports!
Dear Editor,
A cricketer who is a coach is now criticising pitches in the Caribbean for his failure. The West Indies team failed miserably against the Bangladesh touring team, and as the West Indies team prepare to play against India, Coach Phil Simmons is trying to keep his job.
After the West Indies team were humiliated by Bangladesh, expectations were sky high that the better players who are not in the team would have been selected to play against the star-studded Indian cricket team. Shimron Hetymer and Chandrapaul Hemraj are two outstanding players in all forms of cricket, but the peculiar selectors are so insular that they are not considering these players to play for the West Indies team.
The haters are complaining that Shimron Hetymer is not physically fit. However, it cannot be denied that he is the best fielder in the world when on the boundary. He is one of the fastest in the outfield, and is the safest catcher when fielding. He also was a successful captain, having won the Under-19 World Cup title for the West Indies.
The Guyana Cricket Board and our journalists must make consistent calls for Hetymer to be included in the West Indies team. He is a better batsman than any of the players in the present team.
Chandrapaul Hemraj is a consistent opening batsman. He is a utility player who is a useful spinner and an outstanding fielder.
Is Rahkeem Cornwall fitter than these two players?
India are fielding a young team, with several of their world class players being rested. However, the experienced standing skipper Shikhar Dhawan, together with Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and the master all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, is capable of making enough runs to win matches.
India’s bowling would be heavily strengthened with Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal, along with the quick bowlers Momhamed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel.
India would start as hot favourites to win, as the West Indies have not won a series against India in almost 20 years. West Indies lost miserably against Bangladesh, as they were whitewashed. With their morale being low, the West Indies would have to select the best players in the Caribbean, and get back to their winning ways. As the ODI Series gets underway in Port of Spain, all eyes would be on the depleted and poorly-performing West Indies team.
Criticisms against the Guyana pitch at Providence were uncalled-for. Our batsmen would have a Herculean task to score runs so as to give the bowlers a chance to win. India look like the winners in the first match.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar