Roston Chase Terms India Tour a ‘Stepping Stone’ for the Evolving West Indies Test Team

Even after getting defeated by India at Delhi, Roston Chase saw some signs of improvement at the end of the second test. He made the statement after West Indies displayed a remarkable fight back in the second innings of the test. The captain is confident that this performance will help them move forward in tests, although the path to improvement still has some major hurdles to overcome.

While speaking at the post-match press conference, Roston Chase appreciated the efforts of his team. He said that this kind of performance is needed from the team, as it will give them more confidence moving ahead. He further elaborated that performances like these will help them to compete against bigger teams that are more skilled and established in test cricket.

"Yeah, I think this is the kind of fight that I wanted to see from us, from matches before. So, I think this is a stepping stone, a building step for us to go forward and improve as a Test-playing nation. This is a performance that I think will give us the confidence and boost us in terms of that belief that we can do it against proper Test-playing nations.” said Roston Chase at the post-match press conference.

The West Indian captain lauded his players’ efforts, saying that having positive energy is important to keep the team moving in the right direction. He urged the players to perform similarly in the upcoming series and not to fear losing the game.

"I just want to see the guys continue in this vein and don't let us go back to those ways. Even if it's for us to lose, we have to lose in a good way. In a positive way, where we can have a lot of positives coming out of the game." said Roston Chase.

West Indies came to India without having a genuine pace attack. Their key bowlers, Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph, were earlier ruled out of the series due to injuries. This definitely hampered the pace attack of the team, however, Roston Chase did not blame this as the reason for losing the series.

He described batting as the main choke point of the team. It is certainly a fact that WI have not produced notable performances with the bat in test cricket for some time. They faced similar issues during this series as well, which cost them matches against India.

"I think where we could improve mainly is our batting. I think that's what let us down for the last two series. I think we have a good bowling attack, we had a few injuries. I just think that once we can put good first-inning totals on the board, we will be able to fight for some wins in the Test Championship." said Roston Chase.

He then highlighted the all-round performance of Justin Greaves, who displayed glimpses of brilliance during the two test matches against India. The captain expressed confidence that Greaves will continue his form in the upcoming matches, as he is a valuable asset for the team lower down the order.

"Yeah, well, actually, if we had batted first, he [Greaves] would have batted at No. 6. But obviously him being the allrounder, bowling allrounder, bowling many [14 out of 134.2] overs first, we just wanted to give him some rest. So we just put him at No. 7. But yeah, I think he's a capable batsman. I know him for a long period and I personally think his batting is better than his bowling." said Roston Chase.

West Indies will now play their next test match against New Zealand in December. He is confident that the team will perform better in those games, as the series against India has given them plenty of lessons. He expects the upcoming matches in 2026 to be more competitive, especially against teams like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, who are close to them in the Test rankings.