HAVING represented the West Indies at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in January, Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler Shiva Sankar has now set sight on securing a TT Red Force call-up, and by extension, the West Indies men's team.
Sankar, 19, played all six World Cup matches for the maroon and captured nine wickets - the highest among the region's bowlers. West Indies, however, won just three of their six matches and finished 11th.
They were victorious against Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe but lost important matches against Australia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.
Sankar achieved his tournament-best figures of 3/17 against Scotland and also bagged 3/31 against the United Arab Emirates. He was pleased to feature at the U-19 World Cup and believes the experience served as a good motivator.
'I just need to continue improving myself as an individual. There's some stuff I want to improve on in my batting and bowling. 'It's always a goal to get selected to the TT senior team and obviously the WI senior team. To achieve this, I really plan to continue showing discipline, continue putting in that hard work to improve myself,' he said.
Sankar attended Vishnu Boys Hindu College and Presentation College, San Fernando. The only other TT player on the team was Anderson Mahase, a left-arm spinner, who captured four wickets at the tournament.
This was also the team's first official tournament since the pandemic struck in March 2020.
'It was an enjoyable and great experience. As a team, we didn't do what we wanted to do and win, but there were a lot of challenges with covid19. But it was definitely a learning experience.
'We bonded very well as a team because we were training together for the past year. We had a good bunch of guys and we gelled well,' he added.
Three weeks before the World Cup, Sankar tested positive for covid19 and was worried the virus would rule him out of his West Indies debut. Thankfully, he quickly recovered and played an integral role in the team's overall performance.
'Three weeks before the tournament I tested positive (for covid19). It was a mental challenge. It was tough. I was thinking a lot of things. But I took it one step at a time and I was glad I was able to recover from it and able to still compete,' he closed.
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