Perth: West Indies star all-rounder Darren Sammy is a treat to talk to on cricket. His answers are always forthright, yet thoughtful, and it was no different as he talked about his team’s chances against India after their training at the Mudroch University ground on Tuesday.
When asked if India, whom they play on Friday, is a threat, he said with a characteristic smile: “It’s a cricket match and you have to treat every opponent with the respect they deserve. India are obviously playing really well at the moment. They are on top of the group. We are going to enjoy another contest with them. We have always had good matches against India, we enjoy playing against India. We have a good rapport with India. So, it’s a crucial match for us, we have to bring out our best in another World Cup match.”
Sammy, however, was not too keen to be reminded of the controversial circumstances under his team pulled out of the India tour last year. “Well, it’s something we have put behind us. I have said this many times before that what happened in India, especially with the relationship we have with the country that something like that should not happen. I think the fans were robbed of an opportunity to see two teams that enjoy playing against each other. I don’t think that will affect this match, it’s a World Cup stage. We will treat it as another world cup match and hopefully can get the points we need to qualify for the knockout stages.”
Speaking about the lively WACA wicket, Sammy said: “Any fast bowler would be excited about bowling at the WACA. It’s one of the quickest wickets in the world but that said, India is playing really well. It’s not that our fast bowlers will come and blast the batsmen out. You still need to put the ball in the right areas and look to get the result. And that’s what we have to do.”
Is his team targeting India’s star batsman Virat Kohli? “Not Kohli alone, all the players, we have the video footage of them. With the technology, you could get the footage anywhere of the opposition. It’s all good to have plans but the main thing is to execute them. And that would be our focus.”
Sammy believes that any player can take the game away. “Each player has a potential to take the match away from you, if you look at our team. We got the same: from Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simons, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Jason Holder and myself — everybody has got the potential to take the match away. The Indian team is good but we are not going to focus only on them. If we do the things right we can compete with the best in the world.”
How has been the relationship between seniors and young captain Jason Holder? “It’s good. We support him, he didn’t put himself in that situation, I have been in that situation before. It’s a World Cup and we have to support young Jason, it’s been tough. Starting with South Africa (series) and coming here into the World Cup, but as you could see he has shown he is a strong character.
“Strong characters when they go through tough times, they always come back stronger. But it’s important that we as a team support him,” he added.
