West Indies Should Use Freedom Of Low Expectations

Quote:The selectors named an inexperienced squad to take on the Indians. Of the 13 named, two, Roston Chase and Miguel Cummins, have never played Test cricket, while four, Carlos Brathwaite, Rajendra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich and Leon Johnson, have played less than five Tests apiece. Only its most experienced members, Marlon Samuels 64, and Darren Bravo 42, have more than 40 Tests to their name. And to underline the greenness of the squad it should be noted that captain Jason Holder’s Test career is only 13 games old.

Taken in concert with their recent record, the relative innocence of the squad would seem to preclude expectations of any kind of dominant performance against a highly accomplished assembly of Indian players. No one would really be surprised if India is the side to dictate terms during the series – they are the better team. Concomitantly, no one really supposes that the hosts will get the better of the visitors.

Despite recent successes in the limited overs formats, the West Indies will begin the series near the bottom rung of the ladder as far as the realistic expectations of cricket followers are concerned. Should the home side lose the series, even if they did so badly, no-one would really be shocked. All it would mean is that things would remain as they were.

But what if the West Indies were to somehow draw or even win the series? Not many would have envisaged that happening. Either result, however, would indicate forward movement by a long underperforming side.