West Indies vs India: Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph leave World Cup Qualifier matches to prepare for Test series

West Indies cricketers Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph will be leaving the World Cup Qualifiers early to focus on preparing for the upcoming Test series against India.

This decision comes after West Indies failed to secure a spot in the 2023 World Cup following their loss to Scotland in the Super Six stage of the Qualifiers.

Holder and Joseph will not be participating in the matches against Oman on July 5th and Sri Lanka on July 7th. Cricket West Indies announced on Twitter that the decision was made to manage the workload of the players ahead of the Test series against India.

“Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph will depart early from the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers. They will miss the last two Super Six matches as they return to the Caribbean. This is with the view of managing their workloads ahead of the Test Series vs India,” West Indies tweeted.

The Test series between West Indies and India will consist of two matches, with the first Test starting on July 12th in Roseau, Dominica. The second Test will be held at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago from July 20th to July 24th. Following the Test series, West Indies and India will compete in three ODIs and five T20Is from August 1st to August 13th.

West Indies suffered a setback in their Super Six match against Scotland, going from 81/6 to being all out for 181. Scotland comfortably chased down the target, keeping their slim chances of qualifying for the World Cup alive. West Indies, once a formidable team, have now become a tragic tale. Led by Clive Lloyd, they experienced their glory days in the early World Cup editions, winning the tournament in 1975 and 1979.

However, their quest for a third consecutive title was halted when they lost the 1983 final to India. Since then, West Indies’ performance in ODIs has been consistently disappointing. Despite attempts to revive their past success, they only reached the semi-finals in 1996 and the quarter-finals in 2011 and 2015.