New Chandigarh, Oct 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) West Indies head coach Daren Sammy expressed his dismay over the proposed 25 percent pay cuts in central contracts by Cricket West Indies (CWI), adding that such off-field developments on the eve of a major series do little to boost the squad's morale.
“I mean, look, as a professional, that’s not what you want to hear before a series. Before the pay cuts, I said, there is no better time to play India. You win against the best team, you get some leverage, not only for the West Indies as a whole, but for you personally.
“Performing against India pays you back down the road. We try our best to put that there. I commend the guys for the way they put their heads down. Yes, the results have not gone (our way). But we keep improving in certain areas,” said Sammy in the pre-match press conference, on the eve of the third ODI against India.
Evaluating the team's progress on the ODI leg of the tour, Sammy praised the aggressive approach of his top-order batters, even as the bowling unit has struggled. “Intent is something that we’ve spoken about in the dressing room. We have had four batters scoring 100s in two games. It is a positive for us.
“The rotation of strike, the intent, especially against spin- these are the KPIs that we take. But we still need to find ways, when the pitch is not really offering any assistance to the bowlers, to be disciplined in our lines and lengths and the plans that we put in,” he noted.
Sammy also felt the visitors missed an opportunity to put up a much better total in the second ODI in Guwahati, as India chased down a massive 406. "The position we were in, especially in ODI cricket, they normally say when you find yourself in a good position on a good pitch, at 30 overs you should be able to double the score.
“I think at 30 overs we were 230-odd. So you were looking at 450 thereabouts. But the last 10 overs we only scored 70-odd runs, when it's a time when you're supposed to accelerate the innings."
India made light work of the 406-run target by chasing it down in just 43.3 overs on the back of a mammoth 255-run opening stand between skipper Shubman Gill, who struck an unbeaten 223, and Rohit Sharma, who hit 101.
"When we came in at 400, and you're looking at all the stats, you say India has never chased 400 before, and you're hoping that we could go as a bowling group and get wickets up front, because that's what you have to do to beat India in India. You've got to get wickets in the powerplay, get wickets in the middle, and build that pressure with a total that is over 400," added Sammy.
Admitting that the Indian opening pair completely outplayed his attack, Sammy conceded that the bowlers were given no room for error. "But Shubman and Rohit didn't really give a chance. The way they batted, both of them. Rohit scored a hundred off, I think, 70-odd balls, and Shubman was even faster. So, they scored big hundreds.
"I was telling the guys, when you get pitches like that, sometimes the team requires you to score 170, not just a hundred. But again, it was really tough for the bowlers, and the captain (Gill) played a really good knock. He's been batting extremely well, especially in these conditions here. We need to continue to try to find ways to put the Indian batting under pressure by being a little bit more disciplined and consistent in our lines and lengths," he concluded.
Source: IANS
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