‘It is painful to see the……’ – Former India Captain expresses sorrow over West Indies’ absence in ODI World Cup 2023

The biggest extravaganza in World Cricket, ODI World Cup 2023 is set to begin from October 5 and the whole cricketing world is eagerly anticipating it. The World Cup will set the participation of ten teams playing against each other for the prestigious gold and silver trophy in a round-robin format in the tournament.

The top eight teams on the ODI team ranking qualified for the marquee tournament whereas the remaining two teams qualified as the finalist of the World Cup qualifier which was played the previous month. However, the fans were surprised by the fact that the West Indies team failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023. This is the second straight tournament after the T20 World Cup 2022, in which the West Indies side failed to qualify.

West Indies’ decline from dominance to struggle in world cricket

Citing this poor cricketing performance from the West Indies side, the former India Captain Kapil Dev was dejected by the fact that West Indies will not be playing in the World Cup which is scheduled to be played in India later in the year. The star India all-rounder also highlighted the fact that the two-time ODI World Cup champions have produced several great players seeing them not contesting on the grandest stage is a sad feeling.

“It is painful to see the West Indies not playing in the World Cup. It is tough to imagine an ODI tournament without them. They have produced such great players. I don’t know what is hurting them now but, hopefully, they will make a comeback,” Kapil Dev told as per reported by Indian Express.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley also criticized the West Indies cricket team after they lost to the Netherlands in the World Cup Qualifiers which was held in Zimbabwe, and wrote on his Facebook, “Today I saw the worst cricket match ever played by a West Indies team”.

It is to be kept in mind the West Indies were the team who won the first two editions of the World Cups which were played in 1975 as well as 1979 and they were also the finalist in the 1983 edition of the World Cup.