The Dimming Calypso Beats
Music is always wonderful to the ears and the calypso beats from Caribbean countries have always added extra groove in our moves. These island nations in the Caribbean boast of people who love living life to the fullest irrespective of the situation. It is their passion and jovial nature that has kept the world hooked to anything they do. Well, Caribbean Island boasts of the legendary Usain Bolt. Apart from athletics the West Indies cricket team (a combination of best players from all Caribbean nations) was a team that spelt fear among nations back in the 1980s. One could never forget the swag of Sir Viv Richards and the terror of Malcolm Marshall. Up until 2021, we had our universe boss, Chris Gayle who would enlighten the world with his game.
While we started with their groovy music of the Caribbean islands, the most significant part of the island is the rich heritage of sporting achievement that the islands never seem to stop achieving. Though West Indies cricket team of 1980s was another breed altogether and their hold on the longer format has been declining, they have been a force to reckon with in the shortest format of the game (T20). In fact, West Indies is the only team to have won the T20 world cup twice (that too in difficult Asian conditions). To top that, all the major cricket leagues in the world boast of top West Indies talent ranging from Chris Gayle to Andre Russel to Sunil Narine. In fact, only 6 years ago, West Indies had lifted the cup for the 2nd time in Kolkata.
Fast forward to October 2022 and the West Indian story has taken a sharp turn down the wrong road. West Indies failed to qualify for the main draw of the ongoing T20 World Cup in 2022 losing to teams like Scotland and Ireland. This is an indication of the dire state the West Indies cricket has fallen into. It is worth noticing that all the star players of West Indies like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard were missing from the squad, but such notable absentees cannot explain a team falling so behind in the pecking order. Is the transition of West Indies so slow that it does not have enough talent or there is some hidden reason behind this decline?
1. League over country: Majority of West Indies cricket players prefer not to be contracted by their boards to allow them to play franchise cricket around the world in quest for more money. This has led to more exposure but also a lot of misalignments in strategies when these players come together as a team owing to varied expectations.
2. Disharmony between players and cricket administrators: The players association and West Indies cricket board have been in disharmony since ages with some conflict coming over wages, playing facilities or contracts. This has led to a diversion of focus among the players to these petty things instead of playing for their nations. While the players have stood united, this unity is required more on the filed rather than off the field.
3. Poor decision making: T20 games are won by teams who not only rely on their skill and teamwork, but also shrewd decision making on the field by identifying which bowler to bowl in a particular over and which batsman to send. West Indies failed miserably in this world cup by not being able to identify the match ups that are required in a T20 game.
4. Inability to adapt to T20 evolution: While T20 started with six hitting and it worked in West Indies’ favor owing to their gung-ho approach, the same approach is not suitable for all grounds. Such an approach may work well on the flatter and slower decks of Asia. The pitches in UAE and Australia are a completely different breed and the players in the West Indies team never really adapted to the evolution in T20 that was happening with a lot of emphasis being placed on ensuring a balance between bat and ball.
Not all is lost with this early exit. In fact, it is an eye opener for the West Indies administration to start preparing for the next world cup and be prepared for longer format of the game. There needs to be heavy investment in infrastructure and mental conditioning for the players to be able to handle pressure. At the same time, they need to take inspiration from the class of 1975–1983 and class of 2012–2016 on how they tackled adversaries and became the world champions that everyone feared. Till then, let’s hope that the calypso beats, and DJ bravo tunes come back soon in the cricketing world.
