“Nobody is viewing them as a second-string squad; playing against them will bring out our best performance” – West Indies batting coach Monty Desai ahead of the white-ball series against India

India and the West Indies are poles apart as they gear up to take on each other in three ODIs and five T20Is on the Caribbean shores between July 22 and August 7.

While the Men in Blue are fresh off the back of series victories in ODIs and T20Is against the formidable England in England, West Indies are on a six-match losing streak in ODIs. In terms of rankings too, India and West Indies find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum. India are ranked first in T20Is and third in ODIs as compared to the Windies’ lowly ninth position in ODIs and seventh in T20Is.

West Indies’ ODI slump emanates from their inability to play out fifty overs. To put things into perspective, the former world champions have completed their full quota of overs on just six occasions since the 2019 World Cup, losing nine of their last 13 ODI series in the process.

Humiliating series defeats against Ireland and Bangladesh at home this year have further dented their win-loss ratio, but they can take solace in the fact that the upcoming series against India isn’t part of the World Cup Super League.

At the same time, one should also take into account the relative inexperience of West Indies’ batting unit, which is going through a transition phase under new white-ball skipper Nicholas Pooran. They have been unable to get their batting tempo right and strike a balance between caution and aggression in this format.

The poor quality of some of the home tracks hasn’t helped their cause either. Bangladesh’s ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, for instance, said the pitches at Guyana’s Providence Stadium were “worse than Mirpur”, even after inflicting a 3-0 whitewash at the same venue a few days ago.

India, meanwhile, have rested Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya for the ODI series. Kohli is set to miss the T20Is against West Indies as well.

In the absence of these senior pros, some of the youngsters under stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan will be eager to put up a strong showing in the ODIs and boost their claims for a longer run in the Indian team ahead of next year’s 50-over World Cup. The five T20Is will also be a good dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played in Australia later this year.

Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval has been chosen to host the ODI series starting today. On the eve of the first ODI, Sportskeeda caught up exclusively with West Indies’ batting coach Mrugang (Monty) Desai, who explained the reasons behind West Indies’ poor run in ODIs. He also spoke about the need to play out 50 overs while batting and his team’s chances against an Indian side sans their star players.

Hailing from Mumbai, Desai was appointed to his current position in December 2019 and has played a significant role in West Indies’ Test resurgence. The former Rajasthan Royals (RR) assistant coach and head scout, who’s respected worldwide for his innate ability to spot talent, has also served as Canada’s head coach and batting coach of Afghanistan and the UAE in the past.

Here are excerpts from the conversation:

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Q: Despite their Test resurgence, West Indies have suffered a slump in ODIs of late, winning only four of their last 14 matches. Your captain, Nicholas Pooran, recently emphasized the need to form a “template for each format”. What template are you trying to set for ODIs?

Desai: It’s quite straightforward. You want to have wickets in hand going into the last phase of your batting in a 50-over game. It’s about reaching the 40-over mark with our top-order batters scoring the bulk of their runs in partnerships, so that we can get close to a 300-plus score, which is the worldwide average benchmark in ODIs.

When it comes to the ODI format, specifically for West Indies, I think we’ve encountered different layers of challenges. When we won the Bangladesh Test series in February and the white-ball home series against Sri Lanka in March last year, there was a great build-up with all the players representing their franchises in the Super50 Cup. The ODI team was selected from the tournament and specific roles were assigned to the players on a good batting surface in Antigua. We ended up playing some good cricket and won all three ODIs against Sri Lanka.

When a team wants to form a template for a particular format, they want to continue with the pattern. There was a big gap after we finished the ODI series against Sri Lanka in March last year. Our next ODI series was against Australia, which took place in late July. Although we lost the series by a 2-1 margin, every match was a low-scoring one. Like us, Australia failed to play out 50 overs. It’s a constant challenge because you want to develop your mindset. That said, a mindset cannot be developed inside your own room. You need to experience the rigors of ODI cricket for that.

In recent times, West Indies have been known for their power-hitting skills. We’re trying to strike a balance between power-hitting and longevity in ODIs. I think we can achieve that with a bit more assertion. Let the aggression be there and try to marry your power-hitting with calculated risks and fine-tune your softer skills like hitting the gaps, hitting the pockets, and defensive skills for overall application on the pitch.

Then again, there was a big gap before the ODI series against Ireland, which we played in January this year. The matches started at 9.30 a.m. in Jamaica and the ball was doing a bit. Losing the toss and batting first is always going to be a disadvantage in such situations.

We showed good application in the series with some of the top-order batters like Shai Hope and Sharmarh Brooks making valuable contributions. We were just getting back into the groove before there was a shift towards the five T20Is against England and the three ODIs against India in Ahmedabad, where the spicy pitches helped the seamers more. I’m not giving excuses, but I don't think the stop-start situation is helping us in ODIs.

Speaking about the template, one of the messages we’ve given to the team is that we want one of our top four batters to score big hundreds and take the responsibility of batting through the innings with an emphasis on skill application in partnerships.

We managed to achieve that in the ODI series against the Netherlands and in one game against Pakistan, where Hope, Brooks, Kyle Mayers and Brandon King were among the runs.

Q: Not just West Indies, Tamim Iqbal also complained about the poor quality of the pitches in Guyana after Bangladesh won the recently concluded ODI series 3-0. Is it a relief that the ODI series against India will be played in Trinidad, where the surfaces are expected to be slightly better?

Desai: We saw an improvement in our performance in the third ODI against Bangladesh, where Keacy Carty and Pooran stitched together a good partnership. Both of them were able to grow from the information – Carty who observed from outside and Pooran who was in the playing XI throughout the series and learnt from his mistakes. That’s the kind of application we want more from our players.

I’ve already taken a look at the Queen’s Park Oval pitches and they look good. Presently we have 9.30 a.m. starts in the West Indies and nine out of 10 times, the team winning the toss decides to field first. Let’s see how that unfolds.

In a way, we want to embrace the situation of batting first more often. Only then can we grow. I keep talking about ’one-ball battles’, but it’s more about the mind winning those battles. If we’re willing to take up the challenge, I’m sure we’ll find answers for the same.

Some of the players are trying to learn from others who’ve found success and all of them are trying to apply their learning to the training sessions. I wouldn’t say the template is complete, but I can certainly vouch that our players are hungry to perform and build their own identity. The major challenge for us will be to do well against different bowling skillsets.

Q: India’s batters struggle against left-arm seamers, but this West Indies ODI squad doesn’t have a left-arm seamer. Did the selectors mull picking Sheldon Cottrell, who last played an ODI in July last year?

Desai: Sheldon was always going to be a part of our plans, but I don’t have a clear picture of his injury status.

Q: So you think having a left-arm seamer in the side would’ve stood West Indies in good stead against India…

Desai: Any bowling attack is complete when you cover all the bases. However, what we need to be careful about is whether we have a finished product in hand. I’ve seen a few promising left-arm seamers on the domestic circuit.

Preston McSween impressed me a lot. Dominic Drakes, who plays for Barbados, is another interesting prospect. We want to see how Obed McCoy sustains himself as well. We are trying to invest in him, but he has been grappling with injuries for a while now. It’s all about managing their injuries better and monitoring their workload.

Q: Jason Holder’s return must be a big boost for the West Indies…

Desai: Definitely! Being a genuine all-rounder, he’s proficient in all three departments. Jason can walk into any team, given the kind of balance that he brings.

Q: West Indies play their cricket with a lot of pride. Will the absence of senior pros like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya from the ODI series motivate the West Indies players to prove that they don’t deserve to play against a second-string Indian team?

Desai: Honestly speaking, nobody views them as a second-string Indian squad. The Indian selectors now have a good headache while selecting a team (laughs). All the Indian players who are here to play against us are very skilful with an experienced leader like Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer featuring regularly in the team.

The young Indian batters have grabbed their opportunities with both hands. Take a look at Suryakumar Yadav. He’s trying to cement his place in the Indian team. Deepak Hooda, too, has played some good knocks lately. Sanju Samson is another exciting talent. Let’s see if he gets a game.

For us, it’s an opportunity to play against a top-notch side that can bring out our best performance. Every West Indies player is motivated to give his best out there.

Q: Any India-West Indies series is closely followed by the IPL teams. That will serve as extra motivation for the West Indies players, isn’t it?

Desai: If you ask me, when we’re about to play an ODI series, I wouldn’t like the IPL to be a part of their motivation. At the end of the day, the template is set for our top-order batters to occupy the crease and play positive cricket. When you play an international game, your primary motive should be to represent your country in the best possible way. If you do that, everything else will fall into place.

Q: Among the less experienced West Indies players, who will be the ones to watch out for in the ODI series?

Desai: I think Carty is a fine talent. I’ve had a first-hand experience of that. I didn’t accompany the team on the Netherlands tour where he made his international debut. The way he played in the last ODI against Bangladesh was a treat to watch. Even though he scored only 33 runs in the match, it looked like he was applying his learning to every ball that he was facing. He’s a touch player who can time the ball well. He has just come into the team, but looks very promising.

Q: Rishabh Pant, who’ll feature in the five T20Is, loves to put spinners to the sword. How will his duel with Akeal Hosein pan out in the T20I series?

Desai: As I said, the message is very clear and every player has bought into it. We’re only thinking of what’s in front of us right now, which is the ODI series. We want our players to dive into their respective roles and play ODIs in the best possible way.

Q: You’ll play a couple of T20Is in Australia ahead of the T20 World Cup qualifiers scheduled for October. It will give you enough time to acclimatize yourselves to the Australian conditions...

Desai: The team has been shaping up nicely in T20s. If we play more games, it will be a sort of reassurance for the players with regards to the roles they’ve been assigned. We’re able to forge good partnerships in T20Is. We’ve created a formula for our approach to those 20 overs as a batting group.

Q: Pooran seems to be enjoying the white-ball captaincy. How much of his energy has rubbed off on others in the team?

Desai: I enjoy the fact that he has taken up the responsibility as a challenge. He’s trying to give us a great message. He says it’s an opportunity for us to write our own stories. It means he’s also building his own story as a leader.

He’s trying to learn new things and improve his own communication skills every day. He’s spending time with each player and is trying to understand our needs as well, giving us some useful insights at times.