West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy on Thursday said that his team would be eyeing a revenge for the One-day series loss of last time when they take on India in the five ODIs.
Speaking to the media ahead of the one-day series, Sammy said: “In terms of knowing the condition, IPL has been a massive asset to us. Most of our guys have played here and they are used to the conditions here. It is good to come back and know what you are going to be faced with but with that said it is a different time too to the IPL. The pitches could be different.”
Talking about Team India, Sammy said that he had respect for the opposition and his team will focus on their own game.
“It is a team we have a lot of respect for. We just have to focus on things that we can do well and the quality in our squad.”
“They have a lot of good ODI players and we won’t single out one person. In order to win cricket games, sometimes in 50 overs, you have to target everybody because everybody is a potential match winner from one to eleven, whether it is batting or bowling.”
Sammy hopes that the Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who was completely out of form during India’s last series in England, doesn’t find form against his team also.
“Virat is a class player. There is no doubt he will be working on his game. He had good series and tournaments against us, especially here in India. We as bowlers will try to exploit the areas in which he has been weak and hopefully he doesn’t catch form against us,” said Sammy.
The all-rounder felt that it is a far more experienced bowling unit unlike last series with players like Jerome Taylor coming back and Ravi Rampaul along with a fit Kemar Roach. “We just have to use the conditions quite well. We also have got Sulieman (Benn) back, and have got (Shane) Shillingford and all these guys.”
“We have got lot of guys who are match winners and hopefully we get a chance to execute that. The last ODI series here we lost 1-2. We went into the final ODI 1-1. It could have gone anyway. Hopefully, this time around it would be even more keenly contested and finally we can beat India in India,” Sammy told reporters in an open media interaction here today.
India and West Indies will play five-ODI series, followed by a lone Twenty20 International and three Tests against the West Indies.
BCCI
