PORT OF SPAIN – A confident West Indies cricket team left the Caribbean Saturday night bound for India for a series of five one day internationals.
Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Darren Sammy left and will meet up with skipper Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder, Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine, who are already in India for the Champions League T20 tournament.
Skipper Bravo was a confident man, saying: “We did well against Bangladesh in the Caribbean and although they are not as touch as the Indians, three wins have given us confidence moving forward.
“Traditionally the West Indies have done well in India and we want to continue in that in this series. “We have as strong a team that we can assemble at this point except for opener Chris Gayle and we will be playing our hearts out, I can assure you. “A number of our players have done well in India for their clubs in the Indian Premier League and our players feel at home in these conditions.”
With the World Cup just under five months away, the West Indies will be playing with that in mind and will be looking at different combinations in a bid to have the best team for the marquee event.
The series in India begins in earnest on October 3 with a clash against India A in Mumbai. Two days later they play another game, also against India A, before moving to the Southern Western part of the country for the first ODI in Kochi on October 8.
Bravo was also happy with the return of the seasoned Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor.
“Samuels is always a great option in these parts. He has always done well here and he is expected to carry on with the great form he had in the Caribbean Premier League. It is good to see him back in the mix and he is expected to be a crucial part of our set up as we move towards the World Cup.”
The last ODI series that the West Indies played in India was last year and that series ended in a 2-1 win for the home team.
SQUAD: Dwayne Bravo (capt), Leon Johnson, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Keiron Pollard, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Jerome Taylor, Sunil Narine, Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul.
