Jadeja and Gavaskar in commentary team for West Indies tour

Ten Sports, the official broadcaster for India’s upcoming tour of the West Indies has named a six-member commentary team. As for most bilateral tours, there is an equal number of home as well as overseas commentators. Thus, of the six, three are Indian while the other three are West Indian. The panel includes. Former Indian skippers Ajay Jadeja and Sunil Gavaskar. They will be joined by veteran commentator and presenter Sanjay Manjrekar.

The West Indian panel includes the experienced Ian Bishop followed by former wicketkeeper-batsman Jeff Dujon, who has had some commentary experience in the past. However, the name that surprises one and all is that of former West Indies batting legend Vivian Richards. Apart from the sporadic commentary stint, Richards has been in the dugout for most teams, either serving as a batting coach or a mentor.

India’s tour of West Indies comprises of just the four Test matches with the first scheduled to begin on the 21st of July at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium, Antigua. However, before this, the visiting Indians will play a practice match as well as a Warm-up match at St. Kitts before the first Test. The Indian team is currently training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bangalore under the new coach Anil Kumble.

The 2011 tour to the West Indies witnessed just Sunil Gavaskar make the trip to the Caribbean to be a part of the commentary team. The Indians had clinched a 1-0 win in the Test series with Rahul Dravid as well as some fantastic cameos from VVS Laxman. However, since then, only four Indian players have remained in the squad and will be making their second tour to the Caribbean. Moreover, this will also be Virat Kohli’s first tour to the Caribbean as captain of the Indian Test team.

Also read – England announce home fixtures for 2017