DELHI – West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo is refusing to look too far ahead despite his side’s impressive win over India in the first One-Day International of the five-match series on Wednesday.
The Caribbean side shook off an on-going contracts dispute with their players union, WIPA, to slam the reigning World champions by 124 runs in a clinical performance at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
They play the second ODI today, cock-a-hoop after their impressive victory. And even though the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is only months away next year, Bravo backed away from any predictions, preferring instead to focus on winning the current series against a team considered to be the best on the planet in the 50-over version of the game.
“World Cup is still a long way to go. Playing against one of the better teams in the world gives us an opportunity to see where we are as a team,” Bravo told reporters here Friday.
“At the moment, we are here in India and the focus is on this tour. We want to see how we play in the next four games and how we can do as an ODI team. We can’t think about what happens four months hence.
“Before that we have a tour of South Africa coming up, and that will be tough as well. So we need to just focus on the present.”
He continued: “We can’t [begin] to think too far ahead of ourselves or we can’t study Australia as we have the South Africa tour before.”
Bravo said though conditions in Australia would differ to those on the subcontinent, most members of the West Indies side were well travelled and were already accustomed to playing in different environments.
The World Cup runs from February 14 to March 29 in seven venues across Australia and seven in New Zealand.
“The players have already played in Australia, they have played in India and they have played in South Africa. That’s the good thing about international cricket, [which is about] being able to adjust and adapt to different conditions,” Bravo said.
“Like I said, we’re in India now, this is our main focus: these five ODIs. We’ve got four left so we want to see how good we are as a one-day team and take the next challenge ahead.”
West Indies head to South Africa following India for three Tests, three Twenty20s and then five ODIs which conclude January 28.
They will contest Pool B of the World Cup against India, Pakistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland and qualifiers United Arab Emirates. (CMC)
