Darren Sammy admits his batsmen will have to deal better with spin if West Indies is to overcome Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20 here on Tuesday. The sides meet at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in what is virtually a quarterfinal.
“In the game against India, where it was spin-oriented, probably 60 per cent of the balls were dot balls, so it’s something we’ve been working on,” Sammy said here on Monday.
“Hopefully we can rotate the strike and get the boundaries in between, and play much better against spin than we’ve done in the past. We knew coming down to our fourth game it would be Pakistan and we knew exactly what we had to do, and spin is something that we have to conquer. This is do or die for us; go big or go home.”
The reaction to the last game back home was one of much joy, Sammy revealed. “I got a few calls from home; it’s Lent season in the Caribbean and they were blaming the West Indies for having people drinking during Lent.
“The people of the Caribbean really enjoyed the win. Everybody was aware of the build up towards the game. But they are also aware that we are not into the semis as well,” he said.
The teams are linked by Saqlain Mushtaq, who is now a consultant with the West Indies team. The former Pakistan off-spinner said he was pleased with the success of spin bowlers at the tournament.
“Probably, the mentality of the spinners has changed. Batsmen do not have the same kind of strategy against spinners that they earlier did. Off-spinners are ruling the roost and I enjoy watching that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez was confident of a good display from his batsmen. “The entire batting unit is in excellent touch,” he said. “There was a lot of talk about Ahmed Shehzad’s form. But we backed him, and when he performs he will make it a one-sided affair.”
