By Akeem Greene
The India cricket team is expected to return to Guyana for the first time since 2002 and make a maiden appearance at the National Stadium, Providence, for two One-Day Internationals.
This revelation was made by Cricket West Indies Director, Anand Sanasie, in an exclusive interview with News Room Sport on Monday (January 14).
While the exact dates for the tour are yet to be confirmed, the Indians would be in the Caribbean immediately after ICC 50-over World Cup in England. The global event runs from May 30 to July 14.
The tour to the Caribbean will consist of a two-match Test series as preparation for the inaugural World Test Championship and will also comprise three ODIs and as many T20s against the Windies.
“That process started six months ago. There has been exchanges and correspondences with the West Indies Cricket Board and the Minister (of Sport). I am very well aware of those and the talks are well advanced and two One Day Internationals are slated for Guyana, but we just have to tie up the loose ends and see where we go from there. It is most likely India will be here for two 50-over matches,” the CWI Director revealed.
Virat Kohli’s men are currently the highest ranked ODI side and would have never played at the Providence Stadium, which was built for the 2007 World Cup. They last played an ODI in Guyana in 1989 at the Bourda ground.
Given the India team boosts batting talents such as Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni among others, Sanasie, who also holds the position as Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, stated he expects the matches to be sold out when the time arises.
“Usually when India comes these parts it is sold out long before and that is one of the reasons I preferred to have India here for the two ODIs and especially this being the shorter version. I am looking for sold out crowds. We also have the CPL [Caribbean Premier League] from August-September so we have a lot of cricket coming.”
In 2018, Providence would have hosted two ODIs against Bangladesh, the Hero Caribbean Premier League and preliminary round matches of the first standalone ICC Women’s World T20.
The India cricket team toured the Caribbean in June and July 2017 to play five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and a Twenty20 International (T20I) match. India won the ODI series 3–1. The West Indies won the one-off T20I match by nine wickets.
