After his recent success wearing the colours of the Trinidad and Tobago national side Daren Ganga wants to don the colours of the West Indies senior team once more.
The 30-year-old Trinidad and Tobago captain in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports made it absolutely clear that his hunger and desire to wear the maroon colours of the West Indies team had not been fully satisfied. “It’s very important in what I want to achieve,” Ganga said, adding … “I think I’ve worked really hard on my batting because I know for a fact that it is important. So as it relates to playing for the West Indies again, like I’ve said several times before, it’s very dear to me.”
Ever since the Champions League Twenty20 tournament where Ganga piloted his team to the final against Australia’s New South Wales, cricket gurus and enthusiasts have been advocating for Ganga to be given the opportunity of leading the West Indies team.
But the heated public debate which included some of the game’s most prominent players voicing their opinions was stalled after Ganga gave embattled Jamaican skipper Chris Gayle a vote of confidence. Ganga yesterday played a forward defensive shot to the question of the captaincy stating merely…“I’ve given my views on this matter before and nothing has changed since then.
“I think that what people should do is give my team-mates a bit more honour because they were fantastic in giving me the support, so I say kudos to the guys.
“All of the cricket that we had played recently, people tend to centre things on how I captain the team, but really, it should be the way the guys played and are playing,” was his modest response.
Trinidad team’s game against the Windward Islands in the President’s Cup competition, ended in a no result at the Uitvlught Community Development Centre ground but after winning their opening game against Jamaica the defending champions are still in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Ganga said while he and his players are excited about playing for the region again…“We never think of team selection when we go out to play…we just go out there and play our best.
“At the moment, as you know, we are the defending champions in this tournament so the guys are just looking at retaining this trophy and continuing our good play.”
Trinidad arrived in Guyana for the tournament on the night of October 27, mere hours before the first ball was bowled after the long flight back from India and Ganga has admitted that his players were indeed tired from the hectic schedule of competing and travelling.
“Well of course, there was some sort of exhaustion with me and my players but we know that we have a job to do as well and that is to retain our title here. We are professionals and sometimes this is what the game requires us to do so, we have to make the adjustment. We know that coming from a 20 over game to a 50 over game would mean a lot of work and quick adjustment to our game. We have had a good start so far and I hope we can carry on and continue doing Trinidad and Tobago proud,” said Ganga.
Ganga made his test debut for the West Indies on the 1998 /99 tour of South Africa and played his last test match for the region at the same venue, against the same team in January of 2008.
In 2003 Ganga scored back-to-back centuries against the West Indies’ next opponents Australia in the Caribbean.
Batting at number three he fashioned 113 in the first test at Bourda and 117 in the second test at the Queen’s Park Oval.
It remains his finest hour in a career which has largely been one of unfulfilled promise.
