Sammy: We were mentally out of the game

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Cricket365
November 9, 2013

West Indies captain Darren Sammy was disappointed by his side's huge innings and 51-run defeat to India in Kolkata, but was more frustrated by the way the game was lost, and by how his players were mentally out of the game.

India romped to victory on day three at Eden Gardens, thanks to centuries from Rohit Sharma (on debut) and Ravi Ashwin, as well as nine wickets from debutant fast bowler Mohammed Shami. The top Windies score was 65, by Marlon Samuels.

While Sammy shied away from making excuses, he did point out that this tour was not originally on their schedule, and was added only recently after relations between India and South Africa broke down.

A disappointed Sammy said after the match: "Remember this tour was not officially on our schedule… We just did not apply ourselves. We're beaten on the mental aspect. We could play much much better. We are much better team than how we played.

"Credit must go to India the way used the old ball especially the debutant Shami. He got the ball reversing quite well and our batsmen were not patient enough starting with me and from the top. We got the ball to move, to reverse a little bit.

"The difference between our bowlers and Shami was the length. He was bowling the ball into the pitch, bowling wicket-to-wicket. When he was reversing into the right-hander, he started on a good length, outside the off stump, hitting the stumps.

"Our bowlers were bowling it full, under the bat, or short. We were not consistent in our line and length. He showed us how to do it. And that is the way it should be done."

The skipper lamented the way his side batted, saying that while they played some interesting shots, they did not keep in mind that they had to occupy the crease. They did not adjust their style to suit the situation, which annoyed him.

He added: "I remembering saying in the pre-match that we hope Indians will play a lot of shots. But it's our batsmen who played the shots. There's a lot to think about. All is not lost. We have to come back much stronger in Mumbai.

"You can't point out one person. As a batting group we have not batted well at all. A lot of rash shots were played, irresponsible shots like I said it started with me as captain especially in the first innings.

"But it is something each individual has to pick up on their selves, be responsible for the runs for the team. As a group we did not do that in any of the innings. One of our goals is to bat at least 130 overs in the first innings.

"In the first innings we batted 70 odd overs and this one probably 56 thereabouts. So we are not occupying the crease and Test cricket is about being patient.

"We saw how Rohit batted in the first game. How he occupied the crease and so did Ashwin … We as a batting group should take a lesson from the way those two batted.

"We had our main spinner bowling for most of the innings and they just played ball by ball and they just batted us out of the game. That one partnership,"