Renowned Indian writer and commentator Prof Ravi Chaturvedi is making a call for Test matches in the upcoming Indian tour of the West Indies, to be played in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
As was exclusively reported on T&T’s Guardian Media earlier this week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has signed off on the 2016 Indian tour of the Caribbean and they will resume bi-lateral relations with the West Indies. This after they severed all bi-lateral relations after the 2014 aborted tour by the West Indies in India.
Guardian Media understands that the four Test matches will be played in Antigua, St Lucia, Jamaica and T&T, during the months of July and August. Chaturvedi, who toured the West Indies on five occasions doing cricket commentary and was awarded a Padma Shri national award in India, thinks that at least there should be one match in T&T and also Guyana given the Indian diaspora in those countries.
He said: “My 1976 commentary stint from the West Indies enabled me to understand all that can be done at various levels to foster stronger friendship with the fanciful Caribbean islands. The reciprocity in the areas of culture, commerce and politics need to be strengthened.
“In view of the ongoing ICC Twenty20 World Cup, my focus consequently will only be on cricket as a strong bond between the West Indies and India. With nearly 45 per cent of the population being people of Indian origin in Guyana and T&T, one feels while planning the West Indies tour, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago must get a match whenever Indian team tours West Indies.
“In fact, the ideal situation would be to have both the Tests and ODIs in these two countries as permanent fixtures in the future Indian tours of the Caribbean. With Shashank Manohar and Anurag Thakur at the helm of the affairs of the BCCI and Dave Cameron in charge of the WICB, the point may be taken to its logical conclusion. The Indian High Commissions at Georgetown and Port-of-Spain may also chip in with their opinion to strengthen my point of view.
“My suggestion was favourably received by the two then presidents of the West Indies Board, the late Jeff Stollmeyer in 1976 and Wes Hall in 2002.” (T&T Guardian)
