KINGSTON – Captain Carlos Bathwaite has reminded powerhouses India that West Indies will be coming full blast when the two teams meet in the one-off Twenty20 International at Sabina Park here Sunday.
Several of the West Indies stars including Brathwaite, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard are popular faces in the Indian Premier League and have struck up great relationships over the years with many of the Indian players.
For instance, Gayle and India captain Virat Kohli are teammates at Royal Challengers Bangalore but Brathwaite warned there would be no friendships once play got underway at 10:30 am (11:30 a.m. Eastern Caribbean time).
“Yes, we’re good friends off the field but once you cross the line you’ve come to represent your country and friendships don’t happen out on the park,” Brathwaite told media here Saturday.
“We can save the hi’s and byes for afterward but when we get on the park and cross the line it’s war and it’s country versus country and we want to do as best as we can blood, sweat and tears for the West Indies.”
India enter the series on a high following their comfortable 3-1 win in the preceding five-match One-Day International series. The Windies, meanwhile, are seeking redemption and hoping to climax the tour on a positive note.
Brathwaite said despite the result in the ODI series, he did not foresee confidence being an issue as the quality T20 players in the squad were high-intensity individuals.
“Confidence is always high. You don’t Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle sulking or low in confidence. They always think we can win no matter the situation and that rubs off well,” Brathwaite pointed out.
Squads:
West Indies – Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams.
India – Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Dinesh Karthik. (CMC)
