MUMBAI, India, CMC- Former West Indies Captain Brian Lara has questioned the decision by selectors to ignore Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine for the Test leg of West Indies’ tour of India.
Lara has described Bravo as having equal or stronger credentials as an allrounder than West Indies captain Darren Sammy, who made only 25 runs in the series and went wicketless.
The cricket legend says he is also baffled at Narine’s omission describing him as the best spinner in Caribbean first-class cricket.
“I don’t need any confirmation from Sammy, I know for a fact that his confidence was shattered and he started to wonder what’s going to happen next,” said Lara writing in his column for the Times of India.
“Well what we saw in the Test series is a result of this chain of events. A captain that looked lost on the field and his personal display especially with the bat, was one even he would like to forget.”
West Indies crashed to innings defeat inside three days in their two test matches against India.
The former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has blamed the losses on poor batting, weak bowling and a heavy diet of T20 cricket.
“A more baffling omission is Sunil Narine, the most successful bowler in West Indies regional 4-day cricket,” Lara said.
“You would think that he knows Indian pitches like the back of his hand. Another one of world’s best cricketers labeled by our selectors as not good enough.”
According to Lara the selectors had benched the wrong people and the consequences had badly hurt the team.
“What about the Test squad selected for this tour? The very day that Sammy was elected as captain of the team it made it very difficult for someone like Dwayne Bravo to be considered,”wrote Lara.
“Dwayne hasn’t played Test cricket for about three years now and knowing him closely it pains him that the selectors seem to only require him for the shorter versions of the game”.
