Sammy relishes underdog tag against Bangladesh

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC):

THEY MAY be playing at home, but West Indies white-ball head coach Daren Sammy believes that Bangladesh are favourites heading into their three-match CG United One-Day International series today.

The visitors are ranked ninth in the ICC’s Men’s ODI rankings, one spot above the 10th-place Windies.

Interestingly enough, the two sides have met 44 times in ODIs with each team winning 21, while two matches ended in a no-result.

However, Bangladesh have won the last six ODIs between them with two consecutive 3-0 victories, the most recent being in the Caribbean in 2022.

With that in mind, Sammy said the West Indies had nothing to lose heading into the series.

“I think it’s a position we ourselves have been in a number of times, where people see us as not the favourites to win and that gives you that mentality where you have nothing to lose.

“What I’ve always stressed with the guys is the way you prepare, the way you go out and play is what you put in is what you get out, so we shall respect the game, respect the opposition,” Sammy said.

“However, we’re not here to compete, we are here to win cricket games, especially on our home soil, so that’s the mentality we’ve shown at home over the past year and we’re looking to continue that.”

The West Indies are coming off a 2-1 series win over England and Sammy has maintained that the focus will be to do likewise against Bangladesh.

“Any home series is to win. However, we understand that the opposition that we are playing against is one that we will not take for granted.

“But again, I love to focus on what we can do and the things that we have to do for us to be successful and I’m pretty sure that we can go out there and do that,” Sammy said.

“The squad is a well-balanced squad. We’ve got in-form players, some new, some of who’ve been part of the set-up for a while, so I’m just looking for us to go out there and put in some really good performances that will result in victories.”