Bravo brothers, Pollard, Narine out WI ODI squad to India

COLIN BENJAMIN

THE Bravo brothers, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine will not be part of the West Indies one-day touring squad to India, as Cricket West Indies (CWI) selectors have already picked that team even before a ball was bowled in Super50 competition, which commenced Wednesday in TT and Barbados.

Dwayne Bravo – despite leading Trinbago Knight Riders to another Caribbean Premier League title recently – looks unlikely to be selected for the T20 squad to India as well, after he was not one of the players contacted by CWI about getting an India visa in the event he was chosen.

This information was confirmed to Newsday by CWI CEO Johnny Grave in response to speculation about the composition of the touring ODI and T20 teams.

Grave said chairman of selectors Courtney Browne was unavailable to comment because he is in India.

“Through the cricket operations department, the selectors have gone to 25 players to get visas sorted for India,” said Grave.

“It’s sort of like a white ball squad of players. The selectors haven’t picked the T20 squad yet so, they (are) just getting everyone sorted in case they are selected.”

On July 24, Grave broke the major news to ESPN Cricinfo that he came to agreement with the Bravo brothers (Dwayne and Darren), (Kieron) Pollard and (Sunil) Narine to play in the Super 50 to push for the India tour and future one-day team selection.

The Englishman said he is not disappointed that selectors chose the path of not picking them for the 50 overs portion of the India tour. He also noted the compromised position they were in considering the clash with the Super50.

He further gave assurances to all players that despite not going to India, their potential path to the 2019 50 overs World Cup is not closed.

“The reason the ODI team (was) picked before Super50 (is) because players are flying out of the Caribbean on October 10 to be in India by October 12. There will be a camp in Guwahati before the first ODI game in that city is played.”

“So yes, the (benefit of the) Super50...now – from the selector’s point of view – will be to look a players who aren’t in India and who don’t perform in India to (then) shuffle the pack for Bangladesh (tour).

“I think my job is just to make sure the talent pool for the selectors is as wide as possible and as many players are available in the system for them to pick from.”

He added, “Timing wise with India series, it didn’t work out but, the T20 squad should reflect the best possible pool of players from CPL performances. And then for the Bangladesh ODI series, hopefully we have a group of top performing players in Super 50 plus whoever did well in India to choose from.”

In July, the CEO also told ESPN that CWI had organised with the Bangladesh board to move the Bangladesh Premier League to January so that it wouldn’t clash with the ongoing Super50, to enable all senior players to compete in the current tournament.

He was also asked if there was ever a similar discussion with India to play a reduced series or after the Super 50 competition.

“No because India fly to Australia the day after the last T20, and their schedule for that tour there is set,” explained Grave.

Although he hasn’t seen the squad, Grave commented on rumoured selections such as a debut call-up for Guyanese opener Chanderpaul Hemraj to the 50 overs team, veteran spinner Samuel Badree being dropped from T20s, Khary Pierre getting a T20 look, and the big shocker of Dwayne Bravo’s non-selection for the T20s.

“I haven’t seen teams, but Hemraj did well on (West Indies) A-team tour to England and he has ticked boxes of a young player with potential who has done well at A-team level, so that won’t surprise me.

“Pierre for Badree won’t be surprising also. I thought he was the leading spinner in CPL from a Caribbean perspective.

“Bravo’s issue is that he’s playing in an all-rounder spot with Andre Russell, Pollard, Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell who all did well in CPL, so there is a lot of options for selectors to choose from. But once he performs in Super50, the door remains open for Dwayne.”

Grave denied rumours that the non-selection of certain players in the 50 overs team had a role in Stuart Law deciding to resign as coach.

“No, not at all. Stuart has great support from us, he pretty much has his own management team. He and (Test and ODI captain Jason) Holder are invited guests onto selection panel and he gives his opinion openly on selection issues.

“I don’t think he has ever had an issue with not getting a player he wants in a West Indies team. If anything, in private conversations he has been more keen about investing in the youth, looking ahead to T20 World Cup 2020 and 2023 50 overs cup, but he is also very cognizant that any good cricket team needs a balance with youth and experience.”