India vs West Indies: Why the Calypso Kings don't excite the same anticipation, and fear, any more

The third and last ODI in the ongoing India vs West Indies series starts on August 1, and the first of five T20 matches is scheduled to begin on August 3, 2023. (Image: BCCI)

There was a time when the mere prospect of a cricketing battle with West Indies sent shivers down the spines of the opposition and instilled dread and fear among the supporters of said opposition. Armed with an array of extraordinary pace aces and some of the most destructive batsmen in the history of the game, the Calypso Kings mercilessly mowed down teams of all hues in every part of the cricketing globe, unperturbed if they were playing away from home and triply dangerous when egged on in their own backyard by fans who enjoyed their team inflicting physical pain as much as stacking up victories.

Like most other opponents, India too suffered hugely at the hands of these entertainers who strutted and swaggered like they owned cricketing turfs from London to Lahore, Christchurch to Chennai. Ah wait, but they did own them, didn’t they? They electrified with their raw pace, they exhilarated with their incandescent stroke-play, and they enthralled with their athleticism and sinewy grace. Was there anything they couldn’t do?

Cricket followers of today’s vintage can be forgiven for believing the two preceding paragraphs are the figment of a fertile mind, because they have seldom been exposed to West Indian teams with aforementioned qualities. The fall from grace of the one-time lords of the cricket world has been steady more than spectacular, which is exactly why it’s hard to comprehend how things have been allowed to come to such a pass that the two-time former champions will not even be a part of the ODI World Cup to be staged in India this October-November.

The downfall

It was India who, inadvertently, snapped the run of West Indian hegemony of limited-overs cricket with their stirring World Cup triumph at Lord’s in 1983. It wasn’t that 43-run defeat which hastened the decline of West Indian cricket, though since that famous June 25 skirmish, the Caribbeans have never been to another World Cup final. Long before this epochal victory, India had also contributed to the revamping of the West Indian style of play with a singular focus on pace as the destructive weapon of choice. At Port of Spain in 1976, chasing a record fourth-innings target of 403, India eased to 406 for four against a spin-dominated unit. Already under severe pressure after a massive drubbing in Australia inflicted by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Clive Lloyd decided spin wouldn’t cut it for him anymore. Thus did the contours of a four-pronged pace battery take shape; in the very next Test in Kingston, since immortalized as the Bloodbath at Sabina Park, such was the ferocity of a pace pack determined to maim as much as dismiss that India had only six fit batsmen in the second innings.

It's ironic that today, India’s fast-bowling resources are more widespread, skilled and threatening than those at the Caribbeans’ disposal. Spin is still India’s principal strike-force, evidenced by turners at home against all-comers, but India are no longer second-class citizens when it comes to assembling a pace unit. India are also no longer the second wheel in their showdowns with the West Indians; the rain-induced stalemate in Port of Spain on Monday couldn’t prevent Rohit Sharma’s men from securing a 1-0 triumph, ensuring that since 2006, India have won every series in the land of Richards and Lara, Holding and Marshall. Though India lost to the West Indies by six wickets in the second ODI, at Barbados, on Saturday (July 29, 2023) - the third and final ODI in the series begins on Tuesday (August 1).

The Port of Spain game was the 100th Test between the nations, dating back to November 1948 when John Goddard’s team came calling for five matches. West Indies won that series 1-0, kickstarting a sequence when they triumphed in 12 of the first 23 Tests. It wasn’t until 1971, and Sunil Gavaskar’s debut, that India finally tasted success, their first Test win in Port of Spain also translating to their first series win in those lands. India had to wait another 35 years to replicate that feat under Rahul Dravid, but since then, it has largely been one-way traffic with the hunter and the hunted swapping places and West Indies showing none of the spunk or gumption India displayed when they were the underdogs.

Until the end of the 1990s, the balance of power remained with the Caribbeans – they won 28 and lost only seven of the first 70 Tests against India. In the last 21 years, though, the roles have been emphatically reversed – two wins to West Indies, 16 to India, 12 draws. One has to go all the way back to May 2002 for West Indies’ last Test win against India. Did anyone say how the mighty have fallen?

There are multifarious reasons for the changing dynamics of this rivalry, each as influential as the other. For starters, India are no longer a shunned cricketing outpost, their financial clout and cricketing muscle making them the pre-eminent destination of the sport. Where India’s talent pool is vibrant and talent-spotting and nurturing structured and organized, West Indies have lost out due to various distractions over the years, now culminating in a fascination for franchise-based T20 leagues that have taken away the charm and desperation to turn out in white flannels.

Much as India’s cricket administrators have been used as whipping boys, there is a distinct lack of leadership and direction in the Caribbean islands, with the result that the financial security which comes from by being a part of the national set-up has been comprehensively overshadowed, if not usurped, by the T20 revolution. The temptation to bowl four overs and put one’s feet up has scored over the more demanding rigour of toiling under a searing sun or in biting cold against technically well-equipped batsmen. The cricketers themselves can’t be accused of taking the easy route because the sport is their profession, their means of eking out a livelihood. If anyone should be in the firing line, it is the administrators who haven’t made playing for the country (generically speaking, given that there is no tangible entity called the West Indies) attractive and alluring enough.

Not even the most die-hard of Indian fans, however, will not welcome a rejuvenation in West Indian cricket. The universal second favourites’ fall from grace has made for painful viewing, especially given the legacy of the sport in that region. The road to redemption must be carved out from scratch, maybe with help from world leaders like India, but the desire must come from within and at the moment, there is little indication of that.