The West Indies open the defence of their World Twenty20 title on Sunday confident they posses the requisite firepower to deliver another successful campaign in Bangladesh.
Darren Sammy’s men tore apart the form book when they stunned hosts Sri Lanka in the final of the previous edition in Colombo two years ago, giving cricket in the Caribbean a massive lift.
Sammy, speaking ahead of the Group 2 Super-10 clash against India in Dhaka, said a more experienced West Indies boasts of players ideally suited to dominate in the slam-bang format.
“If we play to our full potential, we can be a real destructive force,” said the skipper, who leads players like the explosive batsman Chris Gayle and star spinner Sunil Narine.
“We’ve got a lot of experienced players who play Twenty20 cricket all over the world, like Gayle, Narine and Dwayne Bravo. We have a great balance in the squad.”
Sammy said Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indians, who thumped Pakistan by seven wickets in the Super-10 opener on Friday, were no strangers to his players since they played together in the Indian Premier League.
“We have a general idea of the Indians because guys have been in the same dressing room as them during the IPL,” he said. “Anyway in this age, there is footage to be seen everywhere.
“You can watch a player’s match and come up with a successful formula to stop him.”
Sammy expected a keen contest on Sunday, saying his team were eager to start the tournament on a winning note.
“The good thing in our team is that we don’t have to rely on any one person. We have at least five or six potential match-winners,” he said.
“But everyone has to contribute. You may have a brilliant team, but it takes a total team effort to win.
“It is not going to be easy to win the tournament again. We have to focus on each team. But tomorrow it is all about India and our energies are focused on them.”
Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh are the other teams in the group, from which two will advance to the semi-finals.
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