Dwayne Bravo unlikely for India ODIs

KINGSTON: Dwayne Bravo doesn’t figure in the list of 25 players told by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to obtain Indian visas for the ODI leg of the ongoing tour, according to a Newsday report.

The squad is yet to be announced, but the board has begun the process of sorting out the paperwork of potential picks for the series which begins on October 21.

This also potentially means players who unexpectedly grab the spotlight in the regional one-day competition, which started on October 3, are unlikely to make it to India. Johnny Grave, the CWI chief executive, told Newsday that the timing of the India series forced the board’s hand.

“The reason the (long list for the) ODI team was picked before Super50 is because players are flying out of the Caribbean on October 10 to be in India by October 12,” Grave said.

“There will be a camp in Guwahati before the first ODI game in that city is played.

“The (benefit of the) Super50 now from the selectors’ point of view will be to look at players who aren’t in India and who don’t perform in India to [then] shuffle the pack for (the) Bangladesh (tour).”

The regional competitions have long been a point of contention in West Indies cricket, with several high-profile players being sidelined from international duty after prioritising overseas T20 leagues over domestic cricket. Last month it was reported that the Bravo brothers Dwayne and Darren, Kieron Pollard, and Lendl Simmons had all made themselves available for the Super50 Tournament, in a step towards reconciling with the board and returning to the international set-up ahead of the 2019 World Cup.

Dwayne Bravo has not played ODIs since 2014. CWI has previously made it clear the high-profile names would need to perform in the Super50 to make their case for World Cup inclusion. Now Grave said there would particularly be a lot of competition for the all-rounder’s spot in the ODI line-up, so Bravo would need to work his way in.