Amir Jangoo had it all planned in his head. As a teenager, playing for Trinidad & Tobago U17s and U19s, he wished to be in a West Indies kit by the age of 25.
It didn’t quite work out as planned.
If not a cricketer, Jangoo would have been a teacher of geography. He even holds a degree in the subject. But Jangoo did not give up. Now, at 29, he is on his first India tour, living his dream.
“There was a bit of a struggle between those ages,” Jangoo recalls, speaking to Cricbuzz on the sidelines of the ODI series. “But then when I crossed 25, I just told myself, ‘You know what, just enjoy the game. Just be grateful that you’re getting to play for your country, playing first-class cricket’.
By the time he finally broke into the West Indies team in 2024, Jangoo had mentally rewired himself to never give up. He had seen younger players come through and make it to the setup: “And then, I would think to myself, ‘You know what, I think I’m better than these guys. I think I could do better than these guys. I think my ability is better, it’s just I didn’t have the performances in’.”
The lost time had to be made up: once the maroon kit was on, Jangoo did not wait. Batting at six on ODI debut, he carted a 79-ball century.
After a decade on the waitlist, life came fast at Jangoo. In June, he struck a Test double in a world-record partnership at North Sound. It was his third first-class century; all converted to doubles.
A month prior, his runs had shaped T&T’s first-class title, ending a two-decade drought.
Earlier this September, Jangoo was joyfully posing with the CPL trophy in Barbados after a final-winning fifty. And three days later, he touched down in India. But he’s not one to complain.
Jangoo struck 233 in the first Test against Sri Lanka ©AFP
“I always wanted to play cricket in India, against the greats like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, even Shubman Gill. Playing against these guys, it’s a dream come true.”
Jangoo found his love for cricket by watching his father play in Trinidad. “He used to play what you call gully cricket here,” the junior Jangoo laughs. Both his parents worked in a bank, while his elder sister practices law. But, after enrolling at the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, Jangoo followed the conventional path in an unconventional occupation: age-group, U19s and professional cricket.
But the road further up wasn’t the easiest. “From there, it took nine years to get into the international team”.
As a left-hander growing up in T&T, Jangoo’s first idol was unsurprisingly Brian Lara. His eyes light up when he’s asked about a game few recall from 2019, when he kitted up alongside Lara in an exhibition match on his home ground.
His batting fluidity borrows fragments from his other two idols. His aerial square cut in Trivandrum had a touch of Sangakkara from the 2000s. The whipped six off the same bowler is what Quinton de Kock excels at.
But breaking that lineup of lefties is Virat Kohli.
“I think not only just him (Kohli) as a player, but just his work ethic and the stuff that he’s said in interviews, the way how he lives his life and stuff. That is something that I really look up to”.
In Trivandrum, Jangoo got the bittersweet treat of watching Kohli in rollicking flow. Before that, though, he had shots of his own to show off as he mended an innings hurt by Kuldeep Yadav’s tricks.
He is still coming to terms with the finer nuances of playing in the middle-order, having enjoyed the luxuries of top-order batting for a good few weeks at the CPL.
“It’s a new role for me in internationals, batting at five,” he says. “They know that I can do a job in the middle. So, for me, it’s all about understanding the game scenario.”
Through his years of rigour, Jangoo isn’t averse to role changes. Pre-Covid, he played for Windward Islands at No.4 and 5. When cricket resumed in the region, he earned a keeper’s spot with Trinidad in Joshua de Silva’s absence. It meant batting lower down, but it also shaped his game against spin.
“Batting at that position, in different scenarios, I really honed my skills there”.
The year 2020 was also the first time Jangoo got a taste of T20s. Just half a decade later, he had made his way into the T20I side.
Jangoo made his T20I debut in 2025 ©Getty
It required wholesale adjustments to his natural style, and Jangoo reconfigured himself as he chased becoming an all-format player to meet the demands of the day. Staying close to the Queen’s Park allowed him to spend “countless days and nights doing plenty of range-hitting”.
“I’ve been playing the CPL maybe seven years, but I wasn’t really much of a T20 player,” he confesses. “For me, it was understanding, ‘OK, well, I want to play all three formats. I know I’m a good enough batsman to do it’.”
Jangoo knew he could play spin well, but had to work on the pace of his batting. He did several drills to develop faster hands for T20s. The format is an area of growth for him, and he recognises he doesn’t have the natural physicality of some of his contemporaries.
“I was learning how to hit the ball behind square, use the pace of the ball. Obviously, I’m not one of the stronger guys to clear the ropes at will. For me, it’s more about using the pace of the bowlers. And when I do work on my power shots, I just try to execute them as best as I can”.
Jangoo won’t play the India T20Is, but his bigger dreams aren’t confined by formats.
“I want to play and actually lift the World Cup for West Indies. That’s the No.1 aim. No matter the format, whether it’s a World Test Championship, whether it’s a 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup”.
“I want to play for the West Indies and for as long as possible until I retire”.
He looks no further than his ODI captain as an example to follow. “I just want to be someone like Shai Hope, who is such a great force in 50-over cricket. I want to dominate Test cricket and 50-over cricket for sure for the West Indies”.
It’s a rare partiality towards a white-ball format hurtling through an identity crisis in the age of quick T20 gigs. Jangoo still trusts its future.
“I think ODI cricket is what really started… you can see all the greats winning World Cups and stuff like that in the past. And I think it has a big part to play in the cricket calendar to be fair”.
“I just want to really dominate and find my place and be cemented in that role that I have right now and to just keep doing well for the team”.
Jangoo wishes to win a World Cup ©Getty
Jangoo professes his love for one-day cricket at a testing time, with West Indies missing a chance to qualify automatically for the World Cup. After the New Zealand series had sealed their fate, Jangoo said the team didn’t deserve to play the Qualifiers.
From within, he sees a team making strides and putting up their hands. “Even in the series, you will see better performances from the guys and that’ll give us good confidence going into the Qualifiers.
“Going forward, we build on this, build on the Qualifiers, most likely we should qualify and then go to the World Cup, putting some good performances in and anything can happen from there.
“We want to compete with the Indias, with the South Africas, with Australias in the world”.
For many, a chance to compete with the best in the world has come through the T20 franchise route. Jangoo hasn’t played in any league aside from the CPL yet. Someday, he would love to bat alongside Virat Kohli or Quinton de Kock for a franchise team. Right now, he firmly puts his focus on West Indies cricket.
“I think IPL is the pinnacle of T20 cricket,” says Jangoo, who picks out RCB as a team he follows. “But for me, it’s all about, ‘I want to dominate international cricket’. I want to know that every time we have an international series, I’m one of the main guys, I’m the one that’s doing well.
“And I think from there, leagues take care of themselves after that. So, no (preferred) league specifically, but for me, just doing well for the West Indies and then whatever comes after that, the franchise cricket comes”.
Life has become busier for Jangoo, but whenever he finds a break from sport, he likes to retreat to his house and relax with family. And it’s not just C for cricket: Jangoo is a collector of colognes and a big Chelsea supporter too.
But the Jangoo of today is truly defined by the toil of his twenties. It took him to his dream, but also tilled the tenacity that finds space in his batting.
“I changed many habits in terms of being more focused, making cricket my No.1 priority in my life. From there, I think that determination and drive just (clicked) because I always had a passion.
“It wasn’t the easiest road to get to international cricket, but it’s something I’m grateful for. Because I got to learn a lot about myself”.
