Former West Indies skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul said the Caribbeans’ spirited outing against India during the white-ball tour will be a massive confidence booster for them, and hoped for it to resonate in their performance in Test cricket as well.
Led by Shai Hope, the Windies pushed India hard both in the ODIs and T20Is, reminding about the talent pool in the nation that once ruled world cricket.
“Oh! Definitely. They believe now that they can win matches out there or anywhere and they’ve done it. You know, once the guys have some success and they can do it, they will definitely back themselves to get the job done,” Chanderpaul responded to PTI in an interaction organised by Cricketaaa.
Ajay Sethi, owner of the West Indies Champions franchise, too attended the meeting, stressing on the platform the World League Legends gives to former cricketers to come together.
Chanderpaul said the challenge will be for the Windies to carry forward the success to red-ball format.
“The Test team must be working hard. They haven’t won much. They won a few games recently in the Caribbean against Pakistan, against Sri Lanka. So there are a few wins here and there, but it’s not as much as you know you would like it to be.
“But I think in between, there is a bit of spark and, hopefully, that can grow. They have some very good players still there. If the team comes well together in any match, they could definitely win,” he said.
The left-handed batter lauded Hope for leading the West Indies from the front on the tour to India.
“Hope has played a lot of cricket in Guyana. He’s learned how to bat on those wickets. If anybody could score runs on Providence wicket in Guyana, they could score runs anywhere. He learned how to play spinners there. He has developed his cricket really well.” Hope led the West Indies; batting charts in this series, making 278 runs in ODIs and 261 runs in T20Is.