00:02Even though it's been over two decades that the West Indies won a
00:05bilateral series against the men in blue on Indian soil, many were impressed
00:09with their display in the T20 series. The five-match contest finished two apiece
00:14with the last game in Bengaluru being a no result due to rain. Among those
00:19praising the Windies was cricket analyst Fazir Mohammed who felt they showed
00:23great fight throughout the series. After they were beaten in the 1D
00:27international series by two matches to one, thinking that the West Indies would
00:30have pushed India as hard as they did. Really might have been accused of
00:35fanciful thinking but in the end we saw the West Indies really pushing India
00:39very hard and it's just the disappointment that the raid was the
00:43spoilsport in that final fixture. But no question about it, the West Indies
00:47performance was very very encouraging, certainly with the bat in that regard
00:51when we talk about their overall performance. That's a different
00:54discussion but definitely a 2-0 result, maybe a bit of an anti-climax but
00:59still a very good effort by the West Indies. Some have started talking highly
01:03about West Indies cricket following the exhibition in India where the men in
01:07Maroon gave 100% in both white ball formats. So can this be the rise of
01:12Caribbean cricket following the performance of Captain Shehup and his men?
01:16Is this the sign of a turnaround? No, because there are far too many variables when we talk about not
01:22just cricket but T20 cricket especially.
01:24Even the Indian coach Gautam Gambir, their former international player, has talked about that T20 series not really being so
01:32much about the
01:32contest between bat and ball but batsmen on one side against batters on the other side as well.
01:38So in that sense it was disappointing because one of the elements of the game of cricket, it's not just
01:43one team against the other but it's also the duel of
01:46bat against ball and in this case and also in the one days, it was far too heavily weighted in
01:52favour of the batters.
01:54Looking back at the rain affected truncated contest in Bengaluru, India made 118 for 5 from 7.4 overs which
02:01meant the Windies may have had to chase 84 in 5 overs.
02:05According to the TNT based cricket analyst, it could have been anybody's game.
02:09It's not impossible because it's been done, in fact it's been done at a better rate in the final overs
02:15of T20 matches over the years whether franchise or international cricket.
02:19But with the issue of scoreboard pressure, the series on the line might have been a different situation.
02:23But yes, it certainly wouldn't have been impossible, it would have been a very challenging target of course.
02:28But again, rain around, slippery conditions, ball, wet and the ball is not able to hold on to it properly,
02:36might have given the West Indies an even better chance.
02:38But yes, not out of the realms of possibility but it would have been very, very difficult.
02:43In early 2027, the West Indies will participate in World Cup qualifiers with the hope of playing in the fifth
02:50day over tournament on the African continent.
02:52We know it now, I need to export.
