Former West Indies cricket captain Ramnaresh Sarwan is looking for his Guyana team to take up the challenge of emulating and surpassing Trinidad and Tobago’s performance at the upcoming Champions League T20 in South Africa.
Last year the Trinidad team warmed the heart of all West Indians by storming into the finals of the Champions League T20 with some superlative performances before losing to New South Wales.
Speaking to nationsports in an exclusive interview prior to Guyana boarding a flight to London yesterday, Sarwan said that had performed outstandingly and it was now up to his team of talented players to outdo what Trinidad had done and to bring joy to the West Indies by winning the finals.
Guyana qualified for the trip by beating Barbados by one run in the West Indies T20 finals.
“I know that the expectations of the West Indies fans will be great, so it will be up to us to make sure that we do not disappoint the fans,” Sarwan stated.
“We have been training very hard in the camp and everyone is fully fit and focused on reaching and winning the finals,” the stylish middle order batsman added.
Sarwan admitted that Trinidad and Tobago’s performance at the last Champions League T20 would have made the other teams wary of the West Indies contingent.
But he added: “This is T20 so you cannot take anyone for granted. I do not think that the other teams would have been underrating us anyhow.”
Sarwan stated that some of the lesser known players in the team like Jonathan Foo would have a chance to showcase their talent on the world stage, and he was confident that good performances would put some of his players in line for possible Indian Premier League offers.
“It will be up to guys like Foo to seize these opportunities,” Sarwan said.
When quizzed about his failure to retain a central contract from the West Indies Cricket Board, Sarwan would only say that the board made a decision and that was that.
“Right now my focus is on the T20 in South Africa where I want excellent play from the members of the team and successful performance for Guyana,” he said.
Guyana’s first match is on Sunday against Bangalore at Centurion.
