West Indies cricket team train in Dubai after BCCI refuse to provide amenities to practice

India defeated Pakistan by nine wickets in the super-four group encounter as they continued their unbeaten streak in the Asia Cup. Post the Asia showpiece, the Indian team would return home to play two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is against West Indies, which has been scheduled to start on October 4.

The Caribbean team hoped to get some important pre-series training on the Indian soil and sought BCCI’s help for the same as India traveled to the UAE for the Asia Cup. However, the Indian governing body has refused to provide them any facilities to prepare for the tour, which is why the Caribbean outfit would have to continue practicing in Dubai and travel to India only on September 26.

“We tried to get into India but we were told that there weren’t any places available for us. It would have been nice to be in India. There would have been less travel,” West Indies coach Stuart Law told TOI. “The ICC Global Academy said they have cricket going on and thus offered us to come over here. But what you have to take we have got. We are enjoying ourselves,” Stuart Law, West Indies coach, told TOI.

When TOI reporters approached BCCI for an official statement on the same, a leading official cited the hectic domestic season as a reason that made it difficult to provide ground facilities for the West Indies team.

“We have so many teams this season. To accommodate them at a time when the domestic season has got underway would always be difficult,” a top BCCI official told TOI.

However, Law has been busy fighting a whole different battle to revive West Indies’ Test cricket. The longer format has lost popularity in the Caribbean in recent years due to the growth of the CPL and other foreign domestic T20 leagues. The national team has also been mired in a variety of controversies as the biggest names on the roster opted against playing Test matches for T20 leagues.

“The players are just back from CPL. The camp is to get them back into red ball mode and get used to the heat. It’s very hard to keep the boys together as they live in different islands. We need a window.

“Those days are gone talking to those players. They play much of their cricket in different parts of the world. Their bodies are already taking a toll. Andre Russell, for example, doesn’t play his cricket at half tilt. To maintain that across format is difficult. We can’t convince players to play a format of the game,” he reckoned before adding, “Chris Gayle is the greatest T20 players the world has known but he also played 100 Test matches. That gave him the ability to understand the game,” Law added.