West Indies squandered the good work they had put in with the bat after Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze put in hard-yards on Day 2. Legendary cricketer Brian Lara visited the Windies dressing room after the end of the second day.
West Indies legend Brian Lara paid a visit to the West Indies dressing room after yet another challenging day for the visitors during their two-match tour to India. West Indies lost the first Test in Ahmedabad inside two days, while the hosts seized control of the second Test in Delhi after yet another strong show.
India put up 518/5d in their first innings on the back of centuries from captain Shubman Gill and star opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The Windies were going well in their response but lost their way in the middle with wickets falling in a bunch. They ended the day 140/4 with a trail of 378 more on them.
Lara is on ‘mission India’ along with Viv Richards to help the cash-strapped Cricket West Indies get some extra funds to revive the structure of their long-form game.
“Brian Lara did visit the West Indies dressing room after the end of the day’s play. He didn’t make any general address to the players but spoke (separately) to coach Darren Sammy and captain Roston Chase and a couple of players,” a source close to the development told PTI.
“He was around for close to 20 minutes. The discussion was more generic about the health of West Indies cricket and way forward.”
Lara had asked West Indies team to find a way asking the players whether they have cricket at heart. “I would like to urge Roston Chase and the other guys to (tell), do they have cricket at heart? Do they really want to play for the West Indies? And that is the most important thing, because you would find a way. You would find a way,” Lara told the media during the CEAT Cricket Rating awards.
“We did not have better facilities 30-40 years ago. Viv Richards didn’t bat on any better practice pitches or anything. We had to do the same thing, the same grind, but the passion was different. The passion to play for the West Indies was different. I urge the young players to realise that this is a wonderful opportunity.”