An optimistic West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy on Tuesday said that this Holi, India can celebrate the colours but his team was looking to celebrate victory.
“India should celebrate Holi but we will like to celebrate victory,” the former skipper said with a smile. India plays West Indies on March 6, when back home the nation would be celebrating the festival of colour.
Ask him how he is so confident about defeating an in-form Team India and Sammy says it will have to be a consistent and intelligent spell by West Indies’ pace bowlers that could get his team a victory against India.
“We haven’t created enough pressure on opponents when we bowl. We have to maintain proper line and length and bowl yorkers at death. We have to come up with a plan to minimize the damage that can be done at the back-end of the innings. India is playing well. We have to bring out our ‘A’ game to beat India. We have to come up with a plan otherwise it is difficult to stop the batsmen with four men outside the circle,” he said.
Sammy also said that he expected the bowlers to make full use of the conditions. “Any fast bowler would be excited to bowl at the WACA as it is one of the quickest wickets in the world. Having said that, our quick bowlers shouldn’t think they can just come and blast the batsmen out. They have to put the ball in right areas and get results,” he said, adding that strategies are in place for star Indian batsmen Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan.
“We have their footages. Courtesy technology, you can get footage from any position and we will come up with a plan. It’s all good to have plans but main thing is to execute them. That would be our focus,” Sammy warned.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his team’s practice session at the Murdoch University Sports Oval here on Tuesday, Sammy said that his team had long moved on from the unsavoury controversy that had been created when his team’s tour of India was cancelled midway into the series.
“We have to put that behind us. What happened in India should not have happened as it robbed an opportunity from two teams which enjoy playing each other. I don’t think that will affect us here as this World Cup match,” he said.
On the strengths of his squad, Sammy said, “If we can do most things well, we can give ourselves a chance of winning. We need to be consistent and absorb the pressure to win cricket matches,” he added.
Ruling out any emergent issues around Chris Gayle’s recurring back problem, Sammy said, “Chris Gayle’s back has been same for me for the last three years. He continues to come up and win matches for West Indies. I know, once he is fit, he will turn up and give his all for the team,” he said, adding that not just Gayle but “Chris, Smith, Marlons, Jason, Russell, everybody can win matches,” he said.
West Indies has been on an up and down trajectory in this World Cup. It has lost two matches — against Ireland and South Africa — before Gayle hammered a never-before 215 to take the game away from Zimbabwe.