Robin Singh questions India's US sojourn

Chennai: When the BCCI and its West Indies counterpart recently unveiled the hurriedly scheduled two-match T20 series in Florida, the move was described as their “help to develop cricket in Americas.” But former head coach of the US national team, Robin Singh feels holding matches is not going to promote the game there. “You have to pump in money into US cricket to develop infrastructure there,” he said.

The Trinidad-born indicated that the BCCI is trying to make money by tapping the US market. “I know there is money to be made in the US. They all know the tight calendar and how are they playing two matches in Florida despite that? And, who is going to get benefited? The minimum ticket price is $100,” added the former India all-rounder.

The absence of some of the biggest stars from the Caribbean such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy has taken the sheen out of the ongoing Test series between India and the West Indies. Some former players including Sourav Ganguly blamed it on the Caribbean Premier League that has the likes of Gayle and Bravo in its ranks.

Robin, who coached Barbados Tridents in the recently concluded CPL, again found fault with the Windies and Indian boards for scheduling the Test series despite knowing the dates of the CPL. “The Test series was scheduled by the BCCI in consultation with the WICB. When you know that there is a tournament at the same time, you should have avoided it. It’s not the players’ fault. And it’s up to the board to pick the players. I can assure you that if a player is picked, he will surely play. Jason Holder was part of the Tridents squad. He had a niggle at the initial stage of the CPL, so we asked him not play because he is the captain of the West Indies and playing for the country is more important,” Robin added.