Ramnaresh Sarwan feels that Test cricket is at its lowest ebb in West Indies at the moment and pointed out the emergence of T20 cricket as a major reason behind the declining state of the format in the Caribbean region.
Sarwan played 87 Tests, 181 ODIs and 18 T20Is for West Indies between 2000 and 2011 and is one of the most prolific batters to have represented the team.
“Yeah well Test cricket is at a very low point to be honest, Sarwan told news agency PTI. “Among the games that we are playing again in the Caribbean, I don’t think it’s sufficient to develop our players but I also think there is this major threat of T20 cricket where a lot of people are showing interest in the shortest format.”
Sarwan, who scored a combined 11944 runs across formats, also pointed out lack of facilities in the region for the poor state of affairs. “I think one of the biggest challenges we’ve had is facilities in the region. I think the cricket board has been working on it. So we’ll see what happens,” he said.
The 44-year-old predicts a future where Caribbean cricketers will start migrating to USA where there’s been a major push to promote the game in the recent years.
Besides co-hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup, USA also has its own franchise-based T20 tournament which was launched last year. Additionally, cricket has been included in the programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I think having T20 format in the US which is so close to the Caribbean with so many players of course they would have the opportunity now to participate in the short format of the game in the US,” Sarwan said.
“So you might find a lot of people jumping ship in terms of coming to the US and start participating in T20 and of course try and see if they could find a way in terms of becoming legal in the US and then start hopefully pushing the play in the US,” he added.
