Sammy confident about his side’s pace attack ahead of India tests and also explains Chanderpaul and Athanaze selections.
Sammy confident pace attack will help West Indies pull a New Zealand on India.
The seam attack that West Indies has selected for the two-match visit to India next month, according to head coach Daren Sammy, has the “variety” to “operate in any conditions” and “pick 20 wickets.”
Along with all-rounder Justin Greaves, the West Indies pace attack consists of Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Anderson Phillip, and Jayden Seales. Sammy stated that the West Indies would strive to “emulate” the way New Zealand blanked India 3-0 at the end of 2024, despite the fact that they haven’t won a Test series in India in forty-two years.
Sammy on India series
“We have found ourselves in a position where our seam attack could operate in any conditions,” Sammy said in a press conference. “That six-to-eight-metre length works across the world. But in our fast-bowling department, we’ve got four different guys who have their own variety.
“You have Shamar Joseph, who’s very skiddy, Jayden, who has a strong front leg and can swing the ball both ways, then you have Alzarri Joseph with his height and the bounce he could extract. So, again, we take confidence in that, especially the way they’ve been bowling over the last year. The ability to take 20 wickets, because that’s what you will need in India. If you can’t take 20 wickets in India, you are on the back foot and we have a bowling line-up of that, especially from the seam department, that could take 20 wickets.
“The process remains the same. The lines and lengths don’t change in terms of that six-to-eight-metre length. Maybe it’s just adjusting whether it’s a touch fuller or touch further back into the pitch. I have full confidence in that and it makes me smile knowing that we go out bowling and we take 20 wickets. And that’s the first objective in the Test match.”
Planning for India during CPL
“To continue instilling that belief matched up by the work we put in to bring the technical aspects of the game up to where we could compete and win matches” is how Sammy, who is also the coach of St Lucia Kings in the current CPL 2025, described the six weeks he had spent in the Kings dressing room with Test captain Roston Chase discussing and planning for the India tour.
“From my end, the ten days leading up to the [first] Test match [in India], we’ll be drilling in all these things and planning very well as to how we’re going to beat India in India,” Sammy said. “We’re definitely going down there with the mindset to win. We’re not just going to go down there and think, “oh, it’s India”. No. New Zealand went there and did incredibly well and that we should take inspiration from. But again, it’s understanding the things that New Zealand did in those conditions and try to emulate it with our guys as well.”