Ahead of West Indies' first Test of the ICC World Test Championship against India on Thursday, 22nd August, Ramnaresh Sarwan, former West Indies cricketer and a member of national pre-series camp, advised the hosts to play collectively as a unit to have any chances of beating the No.1 ranked side in the Test series.
India and West Indies will lock horns against each other in the first match of the two-match Test series in Antigua and Sarwan hopes that the home side will be able to play as a unit against Virat Kohli and his brigade on Thursday here.
Sarwan told reporters, “If we can collectively play well, we have a chance of beating India. We have individual talents, but it is a matter of playing well as a unit. hopefully, we will be able to play as a team. At the end of the day, once we gel as a unit, we have a chance of winning.”
He also suggested the Windies to not pay much attention at the nature of Antigua turf as there were opinions for preparing a fast wicket for the first Test in a bid to beat India.
The former cricketer added, “Yeah, ideally you would want a fast wicket in Antigua. We have to ensure we play well on whatever wicket we play on. Obviously, the guys would have plans and if they are able to execute 70-80 per cent of the time, we would have a good chance of winning.”
Meanwhile, Sarwan and Brian Lara have been preparing the hosts for the matches against the number one ranked Test team and he said they mostly tried to work on the mental aspect attached to the game.
He explained, “It has been really well. We had Brian as well, the way he put everything to them was very simple, guys understood him. The guys really applied themselves in the pre-series camp.”
Sarwan signed off by saying, “Mostly we have tried to work on the mental aspect with them. We did not want to change anyone, just tried to keep them in a clear mindset, hopefully, they will be able to take it to the game. Brian stressed the need to be patient in the middle.”
(With ANI Inputs)
