JOIN USDarren Sammy’s grin never seems to fade, whether he hits a six or being hit for a six. He almost appears too casual in his approach to a game but that’s only a façade. Anybody who saw the determination in him to beat Australia in the WorldT20 last year would vouch for his competitiveness.
It’s that competitiveness that Sammy hopes the West Indies will bring forward in a crucial Group B clash against India here on Friday. “India could celebrate Holi, and hopefully we could celebrate win,” he said when it was pointed out to him that the match coincides with the festival of colours.
Having been a regular in the IPL, Sammy knows a thing or two about India and his fondness for the country and its cricketers is apparent but on the cricket field, he feels, they are just like any other opponents. “It’s a cricket match and you have to treat every opponent with the respect they deserve,” he said. “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 and we have a good rapport with India. But it’s a crucial match for us, so we have to bring out our A game in another World Cup match,” he remarked.
The all-rounder, however, admitted there is a difference when they play India as opposed to when they come up against Australia. “It’s good to have friends but when you cross the line it’s business,” Sammy pointed out. “We play well and we enjoy each other’s company on the cricket field and we compete against each other. Most teams, if you ask the players, they will tell you when they play Australia, it’s always a pumped up match. You won’t see the type of celebrations that we had against Australia (in the World T20) against India. It’s a different type of energy, but when we go out into the cricket field we are looking to win matches and it will be good if we win against India.”
The former Windies captain stressed the team’s pull out from India series late last year will not have any bearing on tomorrow’s match. “Well, it’s something that we have put behind us,” he noted. “Obviously, and I have said this many times before, what happened in India, especially with the kind of relationship we have with India and the way we enjoy playing with India, and something like that should not have happened. 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 and hopefully we could the get the points we need to qualify into the knockout stages.”
For West Indies to be competitive, Sammy admitted, the bowling had to find its bearings. The Caribbeans couldn’t defend a total of 300-plus against Ireland while they conceded 408 against South Africa. “I think it’s not been consistent,” Sammy began. “We don’t create enough pressure on the opposition when we bowl and as you could see the games when we bowl well, when we get it right and be consistent, we compete with the best in the world. It’s about hitting our line and length and especially in the death overs, hit our yorkers and come up with a plan. “It’s quite difficult to stop the batsmen with four men outside the circle. So we have to come up with a plan before to minimise the damage that can be done in the backend of the innings,” he explained.