“It makes me smile knowing that we go out bowling and we take 20 wickets.” Daren Sammy’s words summed up a press briefing that rarely drifted into hype yet still carried ambition. Announcing his 15-strong Test squad for next month’s two-match series in India, the West Indies head coach stressed a simple starting point: remove India twice, and everything else can follow.
Key facts first
• Four frontline quicks – Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales – headline the attack, with all-rounder Justin Greaves offering seam support.
• Openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze return, selected, in Sammy’s words, to “excel in spin-friendly Indian conditions”.
• West Indies have not won a Test series in India since 1983; New Zealand’s 3-0 triumph late last year is the reference point.
“We have found ourselves in a position where our seam attack could operate in any conditions,” Sammy said. “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.”
Shamar Joseph, he explained, “is very skiddy”, Seales “has a strong front leg and can swing the ball both ways”, while Alzarri Joseph’s height promises bounce. Phillip’s more classical shape completes the mix. The coach’s confidence stems from recent form rather than wishful thinking; all four have banked wickets in regional cricket and, crucially, shown an ability to sustain pace in sultry conditions.
Balanced aspirations
Sammy was careful not to oversell. “If you can’t take 20 wickets in India, you are on the back foot,” he warned, adding that adjustment may come down to “a touch fuller or a touch further back into the pitch.” It is cricket’s unglamorous margin work, and he sounded comfortable admitting as much.
New Zealand’s clean sweep looms large in team meetings. “New Zealand went there and did incredibly well and that we should take inspiration from,” Sammy said. “But again, it’s understanding the things that New Zealand did in those conditions and try to emulate it with our guys as well.”
Inside the planning room
Data has guided selection. Opposition lines and lengths, run-rate patterns beyond the 40-over mark, and dismissal types – all fed into what Sammy called “the best squad” the analysts could assemble. Ten days before the opening Test, the group will convene in Bengaluru for “drilling in all these things and planning very well as to how we’re going to beat India in India”.
Chanderpaul and Athanaze, both competent against spin, are pencilled in to blunt the new ball and absorb Ravichandran Ashwin or Kuldeep Yadav later. The left-hand/right-hand combination also aims to disrupt India’s customary rhythm.
Leadership link
St Lucia Kings’ Caribbean Premier League campaign has doubled as a strategy forum; Sammy and Test captain Roston Chase have shared the same dressing-room for six weeks. “The attempt,” Sammy noted, “is 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.”
Outlook
West Indies travel aware of a 42-year wait. Yet the message is neither defeatist nor dreamy. A seam quartet with contrasting methods, openers picked for purpose, and a coach who sees planning as non-negotiable – the ingredients are there. Whether they can bottle New Zealand’s successful formula will be revealed once the first ball is bowled in Hyderabad next month.
For now, Sammy’s grin says enough: his side will live or die by the ability of four quicks to land that six-to-eight-metre length, one ball after another, until 20 wickets are in the book.
