THE narrow defeat in Sunday’s run-fest in the first of their Pepsi Cup series of four ODIs against India has left the West Indies in a quandary over selection.
Captain Brian Lara stated from the beginning that the intention was to give all 14 players an equal chance in what is the final rehearsal for the World Cup in the Caribbean, now just five weeks away.
It is a rational position but the team management will now have to consider whether the desire to win overrides the need “to have a look at a few players at international level to see what they have to offer,” as convenor of selectors Gordon Greenidge puts it.
The second match is on Sunday in Cuttack, an hour’s drive from the team’s hotel in this western Indian city.
Even given Greenidge’s criterion, another loss would be a further psychological setback to the West Indies after entering the series with a 6-2 advantage over the Indians in ODIs last year..
Indeed, since their semi-final triumph over South Africa in the Champions Trophy last November, they have lost five of their last six ODIs, one to Australia, three to Pakistan and now one to India.
It is a statistic that heightens the importance of victory in the remaining matches.
As they went in with their first choice eleven on Sunday, the three peripheral West Indies players – newcomer Rayad Emrit, batsman Lendl Simmons and left-handed opener Devon Smith, stand-in for the injured Darren Sammy – were omitted.
The purpose was clearly programmed for a winning start that would allow shuffling of the eleven in the remaining matches. It is not so clearcut now.
Each of the reserves could be slotted in without seriously undermining the overall strength of the team – Simmons or Smith for the struggling Runako Morton,
Emrit for Daren Powell – but it would disrupt the building of a settled first-choice eleven.
The lesson from Sunday’s high-scoring match was that the West Indies must rely on their batting in such favourable conditions as obtained in Nagpur.
There is not an attack in the game that could have restricted India’s long and strong batting to under 300 on a ground with short boundaries and a pitch that was as flat and featureless as a relaid highway. Only two days in the country, the West Indies could not staunch the flow.
Sunday’s outcome was more significant for India than it was for the West Indies.
The home team entered the match under a cloud after losing 13 of their previous 17 ODIs, all four in South Africa on their preceding tour. Their public, of whom there is none larger or more passionate in world cricket, and the media demanded changes.
Greg Chappell, the former Australian captain who was appointed head coach just under two years ago, and captain Rahul Dravid were both under pressure to maintain their positions.
The intensity of feeling for the game in India was exemplified by the crowds of around 3,000 which assembled at the airport here to greet the players as they arrived several hours later.
As the teams took to buses for the relay to their hotels, one man jumped from behind the lines of armed police and slapped Chappell on the back, demanding to know why the state of Orissa has no one on the team.
The incident, minor as it was, earned blanket television coverage on the several news channels that have sprung up in India in the past decade. Iraq and other world hot spots had to accept their place down the order.
Another controversy has developed to cause concern for the Indian board (CCI).
Nimbus, the television company that bought the rights to all Indian cricket just over a year ago for a tidy sum, has rightly baulked at the government’s directive that its terrestrial chanel, Doordhashan, Sunday’s exci-ting match was not broadcast to the millions without cable IVwithin India, either through radio or television.
Hundreds protested about the issue outside the gates in Nagpur and more mobs in Calcutta demanded Gangly should be returned as captain.
It is an issue that has arisen more than once in India. The West Indies might well follow suit.
