WI No Longer Scared Of India, Darry Sammy Inspired By NZ Whitewash: ‘We’re Not…’ | Cricket News

West Indies head coach Darren Sammy is taking inspiration from New Zealand’s 3-0 whitewash of India ahead of their two-Test tour of the sub-continent next month. Sammy said his team would not be intimidated by Shubman Gill’s men and would prepare and play with the mindset to win every game.

West Indies haven’t won a Test against India since 2002. The last time they beat India in India was in 1983-84. Most countries had similar records against the Asian side, including New Zealand, which turned it over its head last year, scripting the first-ever clean sweep (three or more Tests) in India’s storied history.

“From my end, the ten days leading up to the [first] Test match [in India], we’ll be drilling in all these things and planning very well as to how we’re going to beat India in India,” Sammy said in a press conference, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “We’re definitely going down there with the mindset to win. We’re not just going to go down there and think, ‘oh, it’s India’. No. New Zealand went there and did incredibly well and that we should take inspiration from. But again, it’s understanding the things that New Zealand did in those conditions and try to emulate it with our guys as well,” he added.

That series and the next one against Australia were an inflection point in the country’s Test reign. Since then, three seniormost players in Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma have retired, while Shubman Gill has become the captain.

West Indies banking on pace to challenge India

A lot of things went New Zealand’s way in that series. But the foundation was laid by the Kiwis in a pre-series camp where they prepared their batters with extensive spin camps, while also beating India in the use of spinners in minute details like speed and lengths.

However, Sammy believes that his visitors could do the same with their pace attack.

“We have found ourselves in a position where our seam attack could operate in any conditions,” Sammy said. “That six-to-eight-metre length works across the world. But in our fast-bowling department, we’ve got four different guys who have their own variety.”

“You have Shamar Joseph, who’s very skiddy, Jayden (Seales), who has a strong front leg and can swing the ball both ways, then you have Alzarri Joseph with his height and the bounce he could extract. So, again, we take confidence in that, especially the way they’ve been bowling over the last year. The ability to take 20 wickets, because that’s what you will need in India. If you can’t take 20 wickets in India, you are on the back foot and we have a bowling line-up of that, especially from the seam department, that could take 20 wickets,” he added.

The Test series will begin on October 2, with Ahmedabad and Delhi as the venues.

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