We are here to win the trophy, says Ambrose

 A man of few words, the West Indies legend Curtly Ambrose would let his bowling do the talking in his playing days. Terrorising batsmen with his lethal pace, Ambrose was one of the most dangerous bowlers of his generation.

Currently the bowling coach of the Caribbean side, Ambrose is still firm and to the point in his opinions.

“We are here to win the World T20. Of course many don’t think that we can and that suits us well. We are the underdogs and we have nothing to lose. When we come out winners, they will all be happy to change the tune,” said Ambrose here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.

The West Indies have got off to a fine start, beating England convincingly in their opening game. The 2012 champions next face Sri Lanka here on Sunday. Ambrose admitted it was good to begin with a win. “It is always nice to get off to a winning start. It builds confidence.”

The Nagpur pitch once again triggered debate over the nature of tracks in India. Ambrose though dismissed the thought of worrying too much about the surface before a game. “One of the things that I don’t like to do is to look at pitches before the game. Two days before the game, it can always change. So I prefer to look on the morning of the game and then make the assessment. But it doesn’t matter on what surface we are playing on. A few of our guys have played here and that could work in our favour,” he remarked.

The expectations on the dangerous Chris Gayle has increased with his splendid match-winning knock against England but Ambrose asserted the West Indies are not overdependent on the left-handed batsman. “Of course we are not overdependent on him (Gayle). When you look at our batting line-up, Gayle is at the top of the order. Of course it makes a big difference if he gets going. Especially in the powerplay, he can be really destructive. But we have depth in our batting.

We have Russell (Andre), Sammy (Darren) and Carlos Brathwaite. Of course we want Chris Gayle to come good every game but we don't solely rely on him alone,” he explained.

Ambrose said the absence of Sunil Narine hasn’t completely affected the bowling department. “Missing Sunil (Narine) is a big gap because we know what kind of bowler he is and he brings a lot to the team. However, he is not here and I still belive that we have enough bowling to get the job done.”

The West Indies’ bowling wasn’t consistent against England, with the experienced all-rounder Dwayne Bravo going for plenty. Ambrose though remained confident. “About Dwayne Bravo, he is human. There will be days when he goes for a few runs and it’s up to the other bowlers to step up on those occasions.”
The 53-year old was pretty quick to reply when asked why he never gave away too many runs in his playing days. “I never leaked runs because I never played T20.”
DH News Service