Head coach Phil Simmons says West Indies will be bracing for a backlash from India, stemming from their triumph in the Twenty World Cup earlier this year, but expects his proven unit of T20 stars to execute when the two-match series bowls off over the weekend in Florida.
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The Indian captain did not care to hide his admiration for the depth in the West Indian team as he addressed the media on Friday.
“In the limited overs format, the West Indies are extraordinary”. They have the right balance, they are entertaining as well. Samuel Badree has recovered from his injury and is raring to go, while mystery spinner Sunil Narine could be a thorn for the India side with a remodeled action. India had entered the series on 112 points, 44 points ahead of eighth-ranked West Indies.
“The smaller the format, the bigger the impact that power hitters have on the game”, he continued.
Even though their T20 squad is vastly different from the Test side, Simmons said there would be an “easy” transition in the dressing room because the T20 side has broadly remained the same since the World T20, which they won without Narine and Pollard. “It will be very interesting”.
However, Simmons said there would not be much of a transition to make to the T20 format seeing the team, under new captain Carlos Brathwaite, was nearly a completely different one to the Test set-up.
The Windies will be led by their new T20 skipperCarlos Braithwaite – who comes in place of the sacked ex-captain Darren Sammy – and whose exploits in the World T20 took the Windies home in a nail biting finals against England. His side would draw inspiration from having beaten India in India earlier this year, he said. Having played with and under the legendary legspinner in the past, Dhoni was full of praise for Kumble and looked forward to the new association.
“The facilities are as good as anywhere you will get in the world”, said Dhoni. “The stadium is not that big but has a ideal ground when it comes to the playing area”, Dhoni said. The infrastructure looks good. Apart from promoting his biopic, Dhoni said he utilised his off-time by working on his fitness.
Cricket will seek to reach out to the untapped American market when the sport’s most followed practitioners, India, lock horns with the West Indies in their maiden global game in the Usa here on Saturday. When we have played in the West Indies in the past, a lot of them have come over from U.S. to watch us play. Kumble was still optimistic about the confidence the team would carry from his first series as coach.
“I learned a lot from Anil bhai, especially in Tests”. The way he used to bowl to a batsman, how accurate he was, his consistency was fantastic.
He also reckoned that the side consists of impact players, who can change the course of the game in a matter of minutes.
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“I’m sure that will certainly help him as a coach and that’s what modern cricket is all about – changing plans”.
