IND vs WI: As West Indies prepare for their daunting tour of India, head coach Darren Sammy is calling on his team to adopt a fearless mindset – one that believes victory in India is not just possible, but achievable. Drawing from New Zealand’s remarkable 3-0 whitewash of India last year, Sammy wants his players to step onto Indian soil with confidence, not trepidation.
The former T20 World Cup-winning captain, now in charge of the West Indies across all formats, is well aware of the uphill task his team faces. India are virtually invincible at home, and the numbers reflect it. Since clinching a Test victory in Mohali back in 1994, the West Indies haven’t managed to win a single red-ball match on Indian soil. Out of nine Tests played in India since then, they’ve lost seven, with only two ending in draws – one of which famously had the scores level at the Wankhede Stadium in 2011.
But Sammy is not letting history dictate the narrative.
“We’re definitely going down there with the mindset to win. We’re not just going to go down there and think, ‘oh, it’s India’. No,” Sammy emphasized. “New Zealand went there and did incredibly well and that we should take inspiration from. But again, it’s understanding the things that New Zealand did in those conditions and try to emulate it with our guys as well.”
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It’s a refreshing tone from a West Indies side that has struggled to assert itself in Asian conditions. On their last few tours to India, they’ve consistently faltered against spin. In fact, barring the drawn Test at Eden Gardens in 2002, they’ve hardly posed any real threat – losing five of their last eight Tests in India by an innings, and one by a 10-wicket margin.
Still, Sammy remains optimistic, putting a premium on preparation – especially in the build-up to the series.
“From my end, the ten days leading up to the [first] Test match [in India], we’ll be drilling in all these things and planning very well as to how we’re going to beat India in India,” he said.
The timing of the tour, coming right after the Caribbean Premier League, means the West Indies won’t have the luxury of warm-up matches in India. That, coupled with the unfamiliar conditions and high-quality Indian spin attack, makes the task even more daunting.
India, for their part, are also heading into the series with something to prove. They haven’t won a Test series in the past 12 months and will be looking to reassert their dominance at home – a place where they’ve traditionally steamrolled visiting teams.
But for Sammy, the challenge is not insurmountable – it’s an opportunity to shift the narrative, much like New Zealand did last year.
Whether the West Indies can emulate that success remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: under Darren Sammy, they’re not planning to go down quietly.
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