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Sammy brushes aside favourites' tag

Last Updated 21 September 2012, 17:16 IST

While mai­ntaining that the West Indies had enough Twenty20 resources in their ranks to dominate teams, captain Darren Sammy felt at the end of the day it all boiled down to executing plans in the middle.

“It’s always good to have guys who dominated in this format,” Sammy noted on Friday after his team’s practice ahead of Saturday’s clash against Australia. “We have guys like Chris (Gayle), (Dwayne) Bravo, (Kieron) Pollard and Sunil (Narine). Fidel (Edwards) is bowling well and then there is Ravi (Rampaul) and all the other guys. Everybody in the team is looking towards one common goal and that is to win the title. In order to do that it won’t take one person, it will take an entire team to go out there and put in all the ingredients to win,” Sammy explained.

Narine has had quite a bit of success since his IPL V debut, and on surfaces and conditions that suit his kind of bowling, the off-spinner could be a major weapon for the Caribbean side. “We have seen when Narine plays, he is very difficult to get away and I guess the pressure of the score board and trying to score off him gives him the advantage. But at the end of the day he still has to go out there and execute his skills. So just like everyone in the side, it’s about execution for Sunil tomorrow.”

The all-rounder wasn’t perturbed at the prospect of facing a stronger opposition in Australia straight up. “To us every game in this tournament is a tough game,” he pointed out. “We have prepared for this tournament, we just had our last practice session (today) and everybody is ready. The most important thing is the belief in the team that we could go all the way. Tomorrow, against Australia, all our attention and focus will be to get over this game. We have all prepared well and ready to take on Australia,” he remarked.

Aussie skipper George Bailey was aware of West Indies’ T20 might. “I think we start on zero and we are none for none. They are a good team, no doubt about it and if they play very well it will be tough to beat but I don’t think they have played any more or any less than anyone else. And yes, Chris Gayle is a big factor. He is a good player. He hits some of the biggest sixes in T20 cricket and his batting stats speak for themselves.”

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(Published 21 September 2012, 17:16 IST)

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