West Indies bowling coach Corey Collymore on Friday said that his team will have to come up with a mammoth effort to save the first Test against India.
The visitors were in deep trouble at stumps on the second day after being reduced to 94/6 in their first innings. India declared at mammoth 649 for nine.
"You have to be honest with yourself. India is in the ascendancy and it's only Day Two, already seriously behind so it's gonna take a mammoth effort for us to pull it back. But again, you don't come to Test match cricket to just surrender," said Collymore, the former West Indies pacer.
Collymore said the team's disappointing performance on the opening day and unavailability of captain Jason Holder and lead pacer Kemar Roach pushed them back a long way.
"Thursday was a very hard day. You have to realise again with two young gentlemen - one making debut and the other playing his second Test (Shermon Lewis and Keemo Paul) — they found it difficult with conditions, playing first time in India.
"I think the sub-continent is a hard place for any fast bowler, even with experience. I think that's the reason the captain had to rotate them a bit more today, to still give them a little bit of a chance. They were still feeling the effects from yesterday."
Asked if an inexperienced West Indies can compete in the series, he added:"We certainly haven't come down to compete. As a group, we have come here to win, doesn't matter if you are No 1 or No 8, so yes, that's what we are here to do. Anyway, our Test and limited overs teams are quite different."