Ahead of the three-match T20 series between West Indies and India in the Caribbean, Cricket West Indies’ Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams is anticipating an interesting series and is confident of the hosts’ chances.
Speaking exclusively to Stabroek Sport on the series which bowls off on Saturday in Florida, USA, Adams said, “Well I look at the last series we had here against England where we actually beat one of the top teams in the world and that has made me very confident and sort of in anticipation of the series because India is one of the top teams in the world and [it] is going to be a very good test for a team that is growing and growing in the right direction.”
Adams acknowledged that India will start the series as favourites but pointed to the developments made by the hosts over the last year.
“India will start as favourites obviously because of their standing in world cricket but funny things happen when you are playing at home and I am looking forward to the series with interest.”
Following the 2019 ICC World Cup, this is the first series for the West Indies, who are the defending T20 champions.
Adams said this series, in his interpretation, will kick start the Windies’ campaign for their title defence in Australia next year.
“I would like to think this is the beginning of our campaign for the 2020 T20 World Cup. I think we have about, the last count being 15-18 international games plus potentially two CPL tournaments, and I know guys would be playing in other tournaments but in terms of what we control, I think those matches will give us more than enough opportunity to, first of all, decide on the core group you want to build around and [secondly] how you go about putting them together and making them battle-hardened for the T20 World Cup next year,” he said.
Despite the Windies’ current place in the rankings, the Director of Cricket was aware that there is a lot of work to be done and said it will be exciting to see how they progress.
“There is a lot of work to be done and over the course of how many world cups, teams change, individuals change, but I do think people have quite a few [of] what I would call genuine match winners and the challenge for us is to put it together to be competitive. The raw materials are there to build and it is a process I look forward to developing over the next 18 months,” Adams said.
