COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CMC) – Ramnaresh Sarwan admitted that being excluded from the West Indies Test tour of Sri Lanka last year was a difficult experience for him. But the West Indies batsman has no immediate plans of quitting the team or the game, and is looking forward to making a more meaningful contribution to the side.
“No, no, no, not at all,” said Sarwan, when asked about his reaction to being overlooked for the trip.
“Every time you are not representing West Indies, (it) is disheartening and those lessons are behind me.
“I believe I have a lot of cricket left in me, and hopefully I can contribute more to West Indies cricket.”
Sarwan collected two half-centuries in the One-day International series in Sri Lanka, and followed-up with a hundred against Kenya in the West Indies’ first World Cup warm-up match over the weekend.
He will be also looking to score heavily again in the final warm-up match against co-hosts Sri Lanka today at the Premadasa Stadium.
Sarwan, however, was more concerned about the team’s performance, rather his own personal success.
“Now it’s important that we try and concentrate on what we have to do here as a team,” he said. “We can’t control what people want to say about us.
“Our focus is to play well as a team, and I’m sure if we do that, everything else will take care of itself. We have to control the things we have control over, and not worry too much about what is being said.”
With four teams advancing to the quarter-finals from the group stage, West Indies are expected to challenge Bangladesh for that spot from Group B, which also features three of the tournament favourites – Australia, India, and England – as well as Associate nations Ireland and Netherlands.
Last week, Bangladesh moved ahead of West Indies in the official ODI rankings, while West Indies dropped to an all-time low in ninth place.
“I am confident we will do well,” Sarwan said. “It is a matter of playing well as a unit, and supporting each other.
“This is going to be a very important tournament for us. We have been preparing well, and we will look to take that preparation into the World Cup. No matter the conditions, I expect us to do well.”
“We’ve been here longer than any other team, and that should give us an advantage.”
West Indies open the World Cup on February 19, when they face the South Africans at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi, India.