West Indies suffered a huge blow ahead of their fourth One-Day International against India tomorrow as key batsman Darren Bravo was on Wednesday ruled out of the crucial match because of left hamstring injury.
"Darren Bravo is out of the next game. Like we showed when Shiv (Shivnarine Chanderpaul) missed a Test (third and last Test in Mumbai which ended in a thrilling draw), young (Kieran) Powell came in and took responsibility," West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said.
Bravo hurt his hamstring in the third ODI at Ahmedabad.
'The team's morale is high'
"Yes, we will miss Bravo in the line up. But it gives opportunity for someone else to come out and make a name for himself. Our team is definitely improving when we miss guys, the guys would come in and perform," he said.
The visiting captain said he was confident that the 16-run victory over India at Ahmedabad, which kept them in the hunt in the series in which they now trail 1-2, has lifted the morale of the team.
"The morale of the team is good. So far we have been coming close. It's about taking the opportunity, grabbing it and winning. We did it in the last game, so the morale is definitely up some more," he said.
'Winning is the ultimate goal'
He said the Windies were looking forward to finishing the series on a high after being away from the Caribbean for over two months, with the tour to Bangladesh preceding the current one.
"It's two games left and most of the guys have been away from home for two and a half months. We want to finish on a high. We have to believe we could win. It's an important game for us and hopefully we could win it and take it down to Chennai for the final," he said.
"Winning is the ultimate goal. We will keep applying pressure. Tomorrow is another massive game for us. We have prepared well. We have one more practice session to go. We want to go out and execute our plans tomorrow," said Sammy.
"What we know and believe is we could win. So far in the series, both in Tests and ODIs, we had the opportunity to win. We took the last one and look forward to create another opportunity and take it," he added.'More focus is about team and winning'
Sammy said that more than the runs he scored in the last game -- a whirlwind 17-ball 41 not out and a stand of 79 in 34 balls with Andre Russell (40 not out) -- it was the victory that came later which was important.
"More than personal satisfaction to me it's about team winning. More focus is about team and winning," he remarked.
Sammy praised Sunil Narine for the superb performance on his debut in the third ODI, but virtually ruled out inclusion of an additional spinner tomorrow.
"It was good to see Narine coming into his first game and playing a crucial role. But we all know Indians could play spin. If you notice so far in the ODIs, pacers have got the wickets. It's not about playing two spinners but about putting the ball in the right areas and executing (plans) properly," he said.'If Rampaul is injury-free, he could do a lot of good things for the team'
Showering praise on his top bowler, Ravi Rampaul, Sammy predicted a very bright future for the
Trinidadian pacer if he stays fit.
"Ravi's nickname is the Hawk. He's got a lion's heart in a hawk's body. He always believes in himself. When he is performing he motivates the team and takes charge. He always gets early wickets for us. I wish him all the best. If injury-free, you could see him doing many good things for us in the future."
Asked about the three tosses he had lost to stand-in India captain Virender Sehwag, Sammy said in a lighter vein that he needed to carry a coin with 'heads' on both sides.
"May be I need a coin with two heads. I always call heads. I am told Dhoni and I never win the toss. Unfortunately for us I don't win any toss. Hopefully tomorrow we can win the toss or lose it and still win. As long as we win I don't mind losing the toss.
"It looks to be a good wicket. Saw the papers and read the curator (Samundar Singh Chauhan) saying it's full of runs. Hope we can have another interesting game," said Sammy when asked about the pitch.
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