West Indies captain Darren Sammy immediately brushed aside talk of revenge against the Bangladesh team, but his dazzling smile when answering the query during the post match press conference yesterday may have betrayed his true feelings.
Minutes after the Caribbean side trounced Shakib Al Hasan's Tigers in one of the most one-sided encounters in World Cup history, the languid Sammy downplayed away claims that West Indies had exacted some sort of revenge for the series whitewash handed to them by Bangladesh in 2009.
“For us, this was just another victory,” said Sammy even refuting suggestions that their elongated celebrations had in some way portrayed their true feelings. He did concede though that he had not expected the victory to come so easily.
“I said yesterday [Thursday] that I had expected Bangladesh to come out hard and I am surprised to have won in this manner, but it shows that if you have a plan and you have guys who can execute it properly, anything is possible.”
Sammy was quick to praise his charges and said that the outstanding bowling performance was mostly due to his bowlers putting the ball in the right areas, aided in part by some suicidal Bangladesh batting.
“Our guys bowled well and put it in the right areas. We had a plan and the bowlers stuck perfectly to that plan. There were really no demons on this pitch,” said Sammy.
The first West Indies Test cricketer out of St Lucia had special praise for Chris Gayle who was not feeling his best the night before the game but still came through for the side. “It shows his [Gayle's] commitment to the cause and I am happy he stepped up and came through.”
Sammy conceded that this might have been a good toss to lose, considering the fact that he admitted that he too would have probably wanted first use of the wicket to put up a decent total on board for Bangladesh to chase.
No comprehensive West Indian win is complete without a reference to their heyday of the 70s and 80s and this press conference was no exception, but Sammy politely brushed away any claims to that end. “At the moment we are just looking to move forward as a team and be consistent,” he said, stressing on the need to put results together.
He also brushed aside suggestions that they were now one of the favourites for the World Cup.
“We are focused on only the next game,” he said. “We are not even looking as far as the quarterfinals. Our next game is against Ireland and our focus is on Ireland only, not England, not South Africa and not India. From this moment we will be looking to put a win on the board in that game.”
