New Delhi: The West Indies have never missed out on competing in the Men's ODI World Cup in the history of cricket. And they will in 2023. The winners of the first two competitions won't participate in the 10-team tournament later this year in India because they were eliminated early from the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe last month.

This comes after they lost in the group stage of the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, which they also won twice.

With all of this combined with yet another disastrous Test match performance at home, cricket fans of a certain generation have to seriously consider what may be the cause of the decline of the once-famous Windies cricket team.

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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar attributes the big stage failures to the change in the sport’s economics.

“It is where I went for my first tour and I know a lot of people there,” Gavaskar said .

“I know the kind of legacy those wonderful cricketers left behind. There’s a pretty laid back temperament which is fantastic but when it comes to playing sometimes a laid back temperament might not get you much results. To Clive Lloyds, Malcolm Marshalls, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Michael Holdings, Garners, the wonderful era for West Indies Test cricket, every Test match that they played, was extra income.”

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On the current scenario, Gavaskar added, “Today the West Indian players, whether it is Test player or T20 player, all the players all over the world are guaranteed by their central contracts, a hundred thousand dollars or whatever. But if you know the West Indian temperament and you have that much in the bank before you score a run or take a wicket, I am not too sure about a lot of them if it actually matters whether they score runs or not. Because the money is in the bank.”

“My suggestion would be to increase the Test match fees but don’t give them central contracts. You are paid for your performance. Then probably they will have a different attitude.”

Performances outside of international competitions have been equally alarming for the Windies, who are currently down 1-0 in the two-Test series against India after dropping the opening game in just three days. Only 12 of the 41 bilateral series played at home across formats since the nation's last ICC title, the 2016 T20 World Cup victory, have been won by the team.

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