West Indies opening batsman Kirk Edwards admits finding it difficult to focus on his fielding in the last two Tests while Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar was batting

With 492 runs from five Tests, Kirk Edwards is the rising star of West Indies cricket. In July, he became the 14th Caribbean batsman to score a century on debut and the third to score a debut hundred against India. However, he hasn't fizzled out like many of his other contemporaries.


Hear it: Courtney Walsh (centre) speaks to WI skipper Darren Sammy
(left) and other players at Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Pic/AFP

Edwards has displayed amazing grit for a batsman on his first tour to the subcontinent. After a stellar show in Bangladesh last month, he has got decent starts against India in the ongoing series. However, the 27-year-old batsman revealed the difficulty he faced while fielding in the first two Tests at Delhi and Kolkata. "I admire a majority of those guys (Indian batsmen). But, playing a game with Sachin (Tendulkar) was something special. It's a memory that I will live with forever. Sometimes, I find myself focussing on him (Tendulkar) so much that I am not focussing on my fielding.


Kirk Edwards

"I think it's the same thing for you (for the media) as it is for me. The guy is a legend, so we are all in awe of him, to just get a glimpse of his batting," Edwards told reporters yesterday after West Indies' extended net session here at the Wankhede Stadium.

India will attempt to complete their third series whitewash in Test history against West Indies in the third and final Test starting tomorrow. Edwards is drawing confidence from the fact that West Indies scored 463 in their second innings at Eden Gardens last week. "Yes, definitely (that performance in Kolkata has given us a confidence boost). I think we were pretty confident as a team even before that second innings. That was just a justice (done) to how the guys were feeling (before the second Test). Of course, we will be going into this Test match with confidence as well," he said.

About the influence of fellow-Bajan Desmond Haynes, the team's batting consultant, Edwards said he spoke a lot to the former West Indies opening great, but his father influenced him more. "For me, growing up in the same country as Desmond, Barbados, you have a lot of conversations about batting and all that stuff. But my real influence comes from my dad," he said.