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FORMER West Indies manager Omar Khan said the West Indies selectors must now find the right balance of players. He said Cricket West Indies should stick with the players who toured Bangladesh, but a few players who chose not to tour should be reintroduced into the team once available.
West Indies, without several senior players, pulled off a thrilling victory in the second Test match to seal the two-match Test series 2-0 in Dhaka, on Sunday. The series win was the regional team's second Test series win in an opponent's backyard over the past nine years. West Indies also got past Zimbabwe 1-0 in a two-match Test series in 2017. The regional team defeated Afghanistan in 2019, but the lone Test match was played at a neutral venue in India.
On Sunday, Khan told Newsday the selectors must find the right combination.
"I think at the end of the day you have to give the guys credit for first of all making the decision to go to Bangladesh and then secondly playing cricket that the way they did. We have to stick with the group."
Khan, who has been the Guyana Amazon Warriors manager since 2013, added, "There may be a couple guys that we need to add on to the team in terms of our batting...we got to be realistic and at the end of day we will want to put out our best team at all times...we got to assess the situation and assess the players but again I would not discard any of the players who went to Bangladesh. I would stick with them and add on a couple of the players who will now make themselves available."
The inexperienced trio of Nkrumah Bonner, Kyle Mayers and Joshua Da Silva led West Indies in the batting department. Bonner and Mayers made their debut on the tour and Da Silva only played one Test match before the Bangladesh series.
Spinners Rahkeem Cornwall and Jomel Warrican were the chief destroyers combining to grab 24 wickets in the series.
A total of 12 players chose not to tour Bangladesh for the two-match Test series and three-match One Day International (ODI) series because of covid19, personal fears or personal reasons. Some of those players included Test captain Jason Holder, ODI captain Kieron Pollard, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo and Shai Hope.
Describing the Test series win over Bangladesh, Khan said, "It was fantastic, great, great victory."
Khan commended the batting pair of Mayers and Bonner, spinners Cornwall and Warrican and the captaincy of Kraigg Brathwaite. He added that the team brought joy to the Caribbean and specifically people in TT, who have had a difficult time in recent months with the violence against women.
Cricket West Indies confirmed on Tuesday that Sri Lanka will tour West Indies for three T20 Internationals, three ODIs and two Test matches from March 3 to April 2. All matches will be played in Antigua.
Many of the newcomers struggled in the ODI series in Bangladesh and the selectors may decide to pick players who represented West Indies before the Bangladesh tour. West Indies lost the three-match ODI series 3-0.
Former CWI director Baldath Mahabir was elated with the performance of the West Indies Test team, saying, "It was unbelievable of this team going up to Bangladesh...I thought that the commitment to task and that fight that the players showed was remarkable."
Mahabir highlighted the effort of West Indies coach Phil Simmons. Asked about the selection of the Test team for future series, Mahabir said, "I think the best West Indies team to take the field should be picked on form and commitment and fitness and the task at hand. What must happen now is people coming into the team must do better than these replacement guys who put their hands up so strongly in Bangladesh."
Mahabir said all available players should be considered, but the performance in Bangladesh should always be remembered.
The post Khan: Stick with players who toured Bangladesh appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.