We are not going to get flustered, says Sammy

“I would love to see the ball passing by the batsman's neck, but in India, we know what we expect to get,” Sammy laughed when he was asked if the conditions here were preventing his team from playing their ‘fearless’ brand of cricket. “Playing fearless cricket means we are not going to get bogged down, whether we are bowling to Sachin or to Ishant.”

The match pitch has been the centre of attention, sandwiched as it is between practice pitches that drove batsmen from both teams to distraction with lack of pace and bounce on two consecutive days. “The centre track, minus the grass, looks the same,” Sammy grinned. “We will definitely consider the option of the other spinner we have in the line-up, Shane Shillingford. It is a wicket that will help spinners, like you would expect.”

Seeking to draw positives from the first Test, he went on, “We showed we had the belief, the method of working out batsmen. Despite the result, we controlled the first two days of the first Test. It took a lot of experience from that Indian batting line-up to win them the game. Our camp is not down.”

Asked if the key battle would be between his batsmen and the Indian spinners, Sammy replied, “When you are positive to spin, it is effective. The team should look to do that more often, be cautious, show them the respect they deserve, but look to not go into our shell. We let them dictate too much to us and it took the experience of Chanderpaul to show us how to play on the pitch. We hope to take a page out of his book and execute it. We will look to counteractack, but also be more selective because it is Test cricket and we still need to bat time.’

His wicked humour made another appearance when he was asked about VVS Laxman and his wonderful record at the Eden. “Maybe I will be invisible and hold his bat as the bowler is bowling!” he laughed. “We also know he gets out early in the first innings, and we hope to put an early end in the second innings too.”