Dwayne Smith, the former West Indies cricketer, mentioned last Friday he’s not shocked to see young batter Shubman Gill leading Team India on their tour of England. He praised how Indian players are prepared for Test matches even before arriving, and he noted that the lack of first-class cricket played by West Indies cricketers has led to their decline in the longer game format. Smith spoke with ANI in Birmingham, where he’s playing for West Indies Champions in the World Championship of Legends (WCL).
About Gill, who is currently leading a new-look Team India without senior players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin in England and is down 1-2, Smith said, The young players still have experience. India plays a lot of cricket and they will do well. They have support, resources, and everything they need.
Smith, who played 148 international matches for the West Indies, scoring 2,462 runs and taking 75 wickets, stated that Indian players are almost Test-ready before they even get there, so Gill leading the Indian side isn’t a surprise, adding, They are Test material before they reach there. A coach who worked with him years ago said he would lead India in a few years, and now he is. I am not shocked he is captain, and they have a good group of young players coming up who will be around for a while. We have to wait and see what happens.
Smith commented on the West Indies’ long slump in Test cricket, which has seen them finish near the bottom in all three ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycles, saying that the administration is not good enough to compete with teams like Australia, New Zealand, England, and India.
Most recently, in the third Test against Australia, the West Indies were bowled out for just 27 runs, the second-lowest score in Test cricket history. Smith said: We only play about seven first-class games a year, which is not enough to compete against world-class teams. It is not a surprise for me; I was not expecting them to get bowled out for 27, but for something like that to happen, I am not surprised because I do not think we play enough competitive first-class cricket to compete with teams like Australia, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Touching on sharing the locker room with Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, and Dwayne Bravo, who won the T20 World Cup 2012 with Smith, he mentioned, I am not starstruck, but it is good to play cricket with guys who have been doing well for their country and respective franchises.
So far, the West Indies Champions have won one and lost two matches in the competition.