West Indies cricket's situation is not great and is not far from becoming dreary as after failing to qualify for Super 12 in the T20 World Cup last year, the Men in Maroon didn't confirm a spot in the ODI World Cup for the first time. In the only format remaining - Test cricket - the situation is grim too after the Kraigg Brathwaite-led side lost its second series on the bounce in 2023.
It may not be all down to the lack of talent in the country but the same talent choosing one format over the other. The prospect of earning millions from the shortest format is too enticing to look away from and hence Cricket West Indies have started to nurture talent that is made for red-ball cricket, for eg., Alick Athanaze and Kirk McKenzie. In the brief appearance in the India series, both Athanaze and McKenzie impressed with their temperament and technique but they will only get better if they keep playing red-ball matches regularly and by staying away from the shortest format's razzmatazz.
Amid all this, former Indian cricket Deep Dasgupta has come up with a radical suggestion to improve West Indies cricket. Dasgupta admitted that there is talent and potential but they will only get better if they play more of it. Hence, to solve that problem, according to him, India could come to the West Indies' rescue by offering a chance to few of those players a chance to play in the Ranji Trophy.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Dasgupta said, "Bottom-line is there is potential, there is talent coming through in red-ball cricket. We’ve seen the younger lot come through, but to make the West Indies Test team a success or competitive, what they really need to do is play more and more of this format.
“Ideally you want them to play as many Test matches as possible, against competitive sides, the top 4-5 sides, but at times that’s not possible or practical. That leads to me a left-field idea, which is if West Indies Cricket can identify a few players and BCCI agrees to allow these players to play first-class cricket here in India,” Dasgupta further added.
At present it may not be possible since the BCCI doesn't allow overseas players to take part in their domestic competitions unlike England in County Championships, however, if it does, Dasgupta suggested that Ranji Trophy sides can easily absorb a few of their players and it will only help the Caribbean cricket in long term.
“It happens for a couple of months, October-November, West Indies can release 4-5 of the youngsters like McKenzie and Alick and a few of their predominantly red ball bowlers. In India we have 38 First-class sides, we can easily absorb 4-5-6 players like that, which could be a great help to West Indies cricket and make them more competitive," he further stated.
