Ganga bats for Sarwan as Windies captain

Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga believes Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan was not given a fair chance to captain the West Indies team.

In 2007, Sarwan succeeded the retired Brian Lara as captain of the regional team but the stylish righthander’s stint at the helm of the Windies was cut short during the second Test against England in May 2007 with a shoulder injury.

The injury was serious enough to rule him out of the remainder of the tour and for a further ten months. Sarwan returned to the West Indies side in 2008 for the home series against Sri Lanka, as vice-captain to Chris Gayle and was never given a chance to lead the team again. 

His career has been in a mini-slump recently and was dropped from the team for the Pakistan series at home following a poor performance at the 2011 ICC World Cup.

“It is baffling to me that there was a guy like Ramnaresh Sarwan who was always playing second fiddle as vicecaptain and yet he was never given a fair chance to lead West Indies.

“I can recall him playing under Carl Hooper and Brian Lara and being vice-captain for years. He hasn’t been given that opportunity to lead even in two or three consecutive series. There is no structured manner and clear philosophy and guideline in terms of selecting a captain and players,”  he said.

Ganga has been repeatedly overlooked for selection on the team in recent years despite being touted as an excellent captain. His form with the bat has been cited as not good enough to warrant a place in the regional squad even though his leadership qualities were recognised.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has, however, seemed to renege on their previous criteria for selection in appointing St Lucian Darren Sammy as captain.

Sammy has a modest batting record of 16.32 in Tests and has taken 46 wickets from 16 matches. His batting ODI record is poor with an average of 20.30 and 46 wickets from 63 matches. Commenting on the apparent hypocrisy of the WICB selectors, Ganga was hesitant to state his feelings.

“I don’t like to comment too much on guys who are given the opportunity to lead, because I don’t know the premise of the board in terms of decision making and what their intentions are,” he said.