T20 World Cup 2021: Despite win over Bangladesh, West Indies' fading heritage laid bare

There are times when watching a team secure a victory does not evoke the emotions associated with triumph. Friday night was one such. The West Indies won their Group 1 league match in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Sharjah by the skin of their teeth. It was helped by a Bangladesh squad that fought shy of sustaining its good work till the very end in either innings.

Beyond relief of ducking the trend of defeats and of having staged a great escape, even the West Indies would have found it tough to leave the ground with any other emotion. Asked to bat first on a sluggish track, the West Indian big guns embraced a glory-or-bust approach and misfired so much that the bowlers’ heroics in defending 142 seemed grossly inadequate.

From the time the West Indies crumbled to 55 against England in Dubai through the defeat by South Africa, Kieron Pollard’s team has looked for a standout batting show. That did not come about on Friday either. They will be hoping that the strokeplayers will all come to the party against Sri Lanka and Australia so that they can continue to dream an unrealistic goal of a last four spot.

We are so used to believing that the Calypso flavour will overpower all other, especially when not squaring up against top-quality opposition, that we will never comprehend the slide that makes the West Indies scrap so hard to eke out a victory. There were only glimpses of the glorious heritage as they staged late comebacks twice to pick up two points.

Nobody expects the cloak of supreme confidence, bordering on arrogance, that the great West Indies sides of the past wore to be working now, especially in the shortest of the game’s formats when all teams believe they can pull the rug from under the feet of others on a given day. Having said that, it was hard to keep disappointment away while the West Indians struggled.

If you watch the highlights streamed by the broadcaster, you may well think that the West Indians brought patent aggression along. Yet, it would take less than a moment to realise that very few dot balls and singles make it to the highlights package. That there were just five fours in the innings was reflective of both the Bangladesh bowling skills as its own poverty of ideas.

Their response to the pressure built by the Bangladesh bowlers was to commit fatal mistakes with shot selection. The attempts to lash out were counter-productive until the final quarter of the West Indies innings. It seems unfair but while we keep looking for the Calypso flavour, the big guns needed to not let their own thinking be muddled.

Then again, we can appreciate the hint of the renowned West Indian flair we saw in Nicholas Pooran’s blitz. It ensured that debutant Roston Chase’s bid to hold the innings together did not go waste. Pooran’s fearless knock, crafted on good shot selection, was the cornerstone on which the West Indies made 72 runs in the last six overs.

And yes, we can also let the ageless Dwayne Bravo’s wily bowling in the death regale us as much as left-arm spinner Akeal Hossain’s parsimony. Bravo, in particular, bounced back after conceding 24 runs in his first two overs and took charge of bowling in the end, undeterred by the mounting pressure.

Yet, more than anyone else, it was Jason Holder who was bringing the West Indian touch as we have known it. We will never understand the politics of the region that caused the selectors to leave out Jason Holder from the original squad. They roped him in only as a replacement after two games – and possibly the chances of securing a semifinal berth – were lost.

Holder showed his value to the side, unhesitatingly, first with the bat when he made the most of a dropped catch and scored 15 off just five deliveries and then on the field where he stood tall and took two catches, including that of Liton Das, as well as an effective bowler who inflicted pressure on Bangladesh during the chase. How could he have been kept out in the first place?

Of course, we can remind ourselves that the present West Indies team is facing more severe challenges than the squads that the likes of Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and even Richie Richardson led in white ball cricket. But even that does not serve the purpose of doing away with tepid emotions that the West Indies sparked despite the hard-earned victory.

For, there have been times in the recent years when it seemed that the West Indies would rediscover joyous cricket. Friday night was a far cry. It was not the easiest to watch the side flirt with a third successive defeat before finding their feet. Sometimes winning without being the prettiest sight can also bring wonderful emotions along.

Perhaps the fault lies in our own expectations from the West Indies. Much later, TV viewers watched Afghanistan bring a brand of cricket that warmed the cockles of their hearts, reminding them of the Caribbeans of the yore. However, even on a night that dished out two close contests, we had to come to terms with the West Indies flavour being conspicuous by its absence.

G Rajaraman is a sports journalist with 38 years standing and prides himself as a student of sport.

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