West Indies on a mission as they start new ICC World Test Championship
Kraigg Brathwaite has his eyes fixed on the job at hand. The West Indies wants to see him team play more consistently, and it all starts on Wednesday when they face India in the first match of the Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Series powered by YES BANK.
First ball at Windsor Park, Dominica is 10am (9am Jamaica).
It will be the first match for both team in the new ICC World Test Championship 2023-2025. Brathwaite, a veteran of 85 Tests – 11 of which have come against the Asian side – said if West Indies were to topple the visitors, they would need to be consistent from the first ball at Windsor Park.
“We look forward to the challenge. I think we also look forward to the support of the Dominican public. And we had some number discussions on how we want to go about playing and the key is consistency. We want to be consistent and that is from first innings right through the whole Test match into the second Test, and for us we look forward to doing that.
He was speaking to members of the media on Tuesday.
“We obviously would always have challenges in the way – good bowling spells, good batting, good partnerships – but as a bowling group we have to stick together and put our heads together. But we look forward to the challenge here in Dominica and we look forward to the crowd coming out and giving up some good home support but we’re ready to go.”
Kemar Roach is the leader of the West Indies attack and the legendary fast bowler has displayed exactly the consistency Brathwaite has asked for – taking 68 wickets from 22 Tests against India at an average of 28 to move into fifth place on the all-time West Indies bowling charts with 261 scalps.
And it was no surprise that Brathwaite pointed to the enduring Barbadian as one the keys to unlocking India in the upcoming series.
“It’s great to have Kemar around, especially with his experience in the dressing room. On the field he always lends that advice and helping hand to the fast bowlers as well – even spinners at times. So it’s great to have him. He’s a legend of West Indies cricket and I look forward to many more years of Kemar doing well for West Indies,” Brathwaite said.
SQUADS:
WEST INDIES – Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Jermaine Blackwood (vice captain), Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kirk McKenzie, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican
INDIA – Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.
-ENDS-