No fighting spirit

FORMER TT and West Indies cricket teams’ manager Omar Khan has bemoaned the lack of mental fortitude of the current West Indies players.

He spoke after their 318-run humiliation by the touring India team in the first Test of the two-Test series,at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Gorunds, North Sound, Antigua, on Sunday.

Chasing a record 419 to win the game, in four-and-a-half sessions, the West Indies meekly succumbed to the India pace attack, led by Jasprit Bumrah (five wickets for seven runs), Ishant Sharma (3/31) and Mohammed Shami (2/13) and were bundled out for 100 in 26.5 overs. “It was most disappointing,” Khan said yesterday. “We continue to live in hope that the team will show that fighting spirit and determination that is required to be competitive at this level of cricket. We have not demonstrated that at all.

“I would have thought they would have gotten inspiration from seeing England being bowled out for 67 in the first innings (in the Third Test against Australia) and fighting back in the second innings, especially Ben Stokes. It seems to me that we’re just going through the motions. We don’t seem to know what we’re about, in all departments.”

Khan said it continued to be “frustrating for people who are passionate and who support West Indies cricket all the time. I feel that we are not getting the right people to be around the players. We need to build the players’ intellectual capacity. That’s our biggest weakness, our mental capacity.”

Asked if he thinks the technical staff may be the problem, Khan replied the team needed “people who can get the messages across and get them to think and act differently.”

But he pointed out, “I don’t think the coaching is the problem. It’s (the players’) mental approach to batting, different approaches, assessing situations, how they go out there and fight. If you watch how (Virat) Kohli and (Ajinka) Rahane bat, they have a plan. Our players don’t seem to know what they are about.” Khan, the current manager of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) outfit Guyana Amazon Warriors, was pleased with the use of ex-captains Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan for the brief team camp in Antigua last week.

“That should be an ongoing process. That cannot be a one-off thing,” he said.

The WI A team struggled badly against India A in the recent home series and Khan noted, “We still don’t have the development programmes and systems in place to have a bunch of players who are ready to take over at any point in time.”