Sammy’s reply when asked about Kohli: ‘Have you heard of Chris Gayle?’

'It’s going to be 15 West Indies players versus 78,000, plus a billion Indians'

March 30, 2016 03:55 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 07:37 am IST - Mumbai

West Indies captain Darren Sammy. File photo.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy. File photo.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy had no qualms in conceding that Team India were the favourites in Thursday’s World Twenty20 semifinal clash.

“I think it is 80-20 to India, so it feels like David vs. Goliath contest but people tend to forget David won the fight, so it’s something similar to that,” the skipper said.

“We haven’t played the perfect game yet. We are stressing on rotation of strike. It is clear that we are a big boundary-hitting team. We look at the dot-ball percentage, probably it is 40-50 per cent for us, and we could improve on that. So far, we have bowled really well in the tournament and on a few occasions, one batsman has taken responsibility,” he said.

Sammy admitted that star India batsman Virat Kohli would be a big factor. But said that having the world’s “best T20 cricketer” in Chris Gayle does even out the scales to an extent.

”...have you ever heard of Chris Gayle?” he asked, adding, “There’s no taking away from Virat, he’s a very good player, but like I’ve said in my press conferences, we tend to focus on what we could do in our dressing room. Like we’ve shown throughout the tournament once we execute our plans right we’ve won the games. When we’ve not, we’ve lost. So it’s going to be a hell of a game, it’s going to be 15 West Indies players versus 78,000, plus a billion Indians.”

“Yes, it’s a challenge we’re ready to face, We all know that India is always difficult at home, but main focus in our dressing room is doing what we do best,” he said.

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