JOIN USDarren Sammy played down talks of India being favourites in Thursday’s World T20 semifinal, cheekily suggesting that in the battle between David and Goliath it was David who won the fight.
“The guys who predict the result and stuff think it's 80-20 in favour of India so it feels like David and Goliath,” said Sammy here on Wednesday. “… But people tend to forget David won the fight, so it's something similar to that. Look, we enjoy playing against India, number of our players play here (in India), we have a lot of respect and the camaraderie in the group; both teams are really good and yeah we are looking forward to that. What better place to play right here in Mumbai, one of the best wickets in India,” he remarked.
The West Indian skipper also tried to make light of Virat Kohli’s danger to West Indies. “No not really, have you ever heard of Chris Gayle?” he said when asked if he was concerned about the star Indian bat. “There's no taking away from Virat, he's a very good player, but like I've said in my press conferences we tend to focus on what we could do in our dressing room and like we've shown throughout the tournament once we execute our plans right we've won the games, when we've not, we've lost so it's going to be a hell of a game, it's going to be 15 West Indies players versus how many billions here in India? And yes it's a challenge we're ready to face. We all know that India is always difficult at home, but main focus in our dressing room is doing what we do best,” he explained.
Individuals taking responsibility, Sammy felt, was the reason why West Indies have clicked in despite losing some key players before and during the tournament. “I think the key word was responsibility,” he began. “It was one of the main words we use in the dressing room; someone taking the responsibility to bring the team home and not leaving it for anyone in the dressing room. The three games we won, the first game Chris batted throughout the innings, the second game it was (Andre) Fletcher, the third one Marlon Samuels took us really close. We didn’t have that against Afghanistan chasing a low total. It’s about each person taking ownership of the job that is required out there, not leaving it for anybody else,” he reasoned.
Before the tournament, the West Indies players were involved in pay dispute with the West Indies board. Though the issue was settled “amicably”, Sammy felt many of the members of the present squad didn’t see themselves in the set up if things didn’t change for the better.
“If certain things don't change I can't see us in the setup,” he said. “Looking at the calendar year after this World Cup I don't see any T20 scheduled in the international calendar so yeah it might be a while. The next World T20 is in four years and I'll be 36 so yes we are really putting our all into this tournament and the guys in the dressing room are aware what's at stake.”