Opener Kraigg Brathwaite celebrated his selection to the West Indies side for the tour of India with an unbeaten century here on the final day of second unofficial ‘Test’ between India ‘A’ and the West Indies ‘A’, which ended in a draw.
With the possibilities of an outright win for either team never even in the picture, it was a bizarre outburst from captain Kirk Edwards at the post-match press conference which took prominence on Saturday.
Edwards was unlucky to be given out leg-before for two; the ball appeared to have taken an inside edge.
Asked about being recalled to the West Indies side, he replied: “I cannot say I was confident of making the team; I have seen worse things happen to me over the last couple of years.”
The 28-year-old also expressed no sympathy for those who weren’t picked.
“My heart is a bit cold about feeling bad for people (who did not get selected). Sometimes, guys do not have to do much to get picked. Then, there are guys who really have to work hard to get picked. Whoever feels hard done by needs to suck it up,” he added.
The Barbados batsman will make his international comeback after a gap of two years, when the West Indies tours India next month.
On eve of the match, Edwards had mentioned that he would rather “not have to play this series to get back into international cricket.”
Brathwaite, meanwhile, was all business. He has now registered scores of 92, 34, 82 and 104 not out in the first two matches of this series, reason enough for his skipper to call him a “special cricketer.”
There were no comeback stories from the India ‘A’ squad, with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan hardly making an impact.
The teams will now travel to Hubli to play the final ‘Test’, another opportunity for the veterans to coax their way into the Indian team.
The scores:
West Indies ‘A’ — 1st innings: 406 in 121.5 overs.
India ‘A’ — 1st innings: 359 in 131.1 overs.
West Indies ‘A’ — 2nd innings: Kraigg Brathwaite (not out) 104 (247b, 15x4), Kieran Powell c Kaul b Zaheer 14 (47b, 2x4), Kirk Edwards lbw Bhatt 2 (3b), Narsingh Deonarine lbw b Bhatt 93 (142b, 13x4, 2x6), Assad Fudadin (not out) 3 (48b), Extras (b-2, lb-3, w-1, nb-1) 7; Total (for three wickets in 81 overs) 223.
Fall of wickets : 1-34 (Powell), 2-43 (Edwards), 3-187 (Deonarine).
India ‘A’ bowling : Zaheer Khan 13-4-27-1, Mohammed Shami 8-4-25-0, Parvez Rasool 27-10-39-0, Bhargav Bhatt 27-1-104-2, Abhishek Nayar 1-0-12-0, V.A. Jagadeesh 5-1-11-0.
