Indian origin West Indian cricketer Denesh Ramdin has been named the captain of the West Indies team for the upcoming ODI series against England starting on Sunday (15th March) in Port of Spain. Ramdin, a Trinidadian whose forefathers came from India between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar and cocoa plantations. Ramdin is a noted wicketkeeper and a batsman. Until now, he was the incumbent vice-captain of the team.

 

The 23-year-old Ramdin takes over the captaincy from Chris Gayle who is nursing a hamstring injury. He is the first Trinidadian of Indian origin and the fourth person from the Indian diaspora in West Indies to captain the national team. On earlier occasions Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharan and Shivanarine Chanderpaul had rose to the helm of captaincy. All of them represented Guyana in domestic circle.

 

On being declared the new skipper, Ramdin, a former West Indies Youth Under 19 captain, said that, he would ensure that the West Indies comes up on top in these matches. Ramdin has played in 34 Test matches. Recently, he silenced his critics following his maiden Test century, scoring 166 in the last match against England at the Queen's Park Oval.