Windies is the most loved team in sub-continent: Bishop

Kolkata: Tall Trinidadian pacer Ian Bishop completed the pace trio of the early nineties spearheaded by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. Today, he looked a satisfied man taking a walk down the lush green outfield of Eden Gardens observing the Caribbeans’ training session ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 final against England on Sunday.

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I am happy for the players. These cricketers have put in a lot of effort. They don’t have as much resources as other teams do,” said the 6 foot 5 inch giant, who reached 100 Test wickets in only 21 Tests.

Bishop sounded pleased with his team’s approach in the ongoing tournament.

They had a lot of injury concerns before the tournament. They mixed and matched very well. They filled in the place of Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard. Even Lendl Simmons came in late,” added Bishop.

West Indies did not play much T20 cricket like England but Bishop believes that is not a concern.

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Talking about skipper Darren Sammy’s statement that disrespect and insult from certain quarters united the team, he said:

I think they took the challenges exactly the right way. There is a lot of respect for West Indies in the sub-continent. Fans look at them as the most loved team which is not reflected in some other places. The guys have seen that and channelled the negatives into positives.”

Bishop used to steam in during the much loved Brian Lara-Sachin Tendulkar contest once upon a time. India and West Indies rivalry came second to Indo-Pak clashes during that epoch.

Rivalries are nice. But the most special thing is the outcome from the tournament. West Indies deserve a lot more respect and one can only gain that by winning the trophy,” said Bishop, who retired in 1998 with 161 and 118 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively.