Dhaka – West Indian captain Darren Sammy was confident Wednesday that his side can achieve what no other team has done in the history of the World Twenty20 – defend the title.
Famous for playing a cavalier brand of cricket, the West Indies won the fourth edition of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka two years ago, and are now just two matches away from defending it.
They meet Sri Lanka in the first of two semi-finals in Dhaka on Thursday.
Sammy said his side was ready to make history. “We left the Caribbean with that motivating factor for us,” he said.
“It’s something which no team has done before and we are confident that we can do that if we play the brand of cricket we played in the last three games.”
India won the inaugural World Twenty20 title held in South Africa in 2007, before Pakistan clinched the second tournament in England two years later.
England won the third tournament, held in the Caribbean in 2010.
This year, the West Indies lost their opening match to India before beating Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan in group two at the Super-10 stage.
Sammy said facing Sri Lankan spinner Rangan Herath, who took an astonishing 3-5 against New Zealand in Chittagong to guide his side into the semis, would not be a problem.
“The make-up of our side allows the guys like (Dwayne) Smith and (Chris) Gayle to go hard at the top, so we don’t mind the left-arm spinner and hopefully we don’t play him (Herath) like New Zealand did.”
Sammy said his spinners would also pose a challenge for the rival team.
“Just as it (spin) will be a challenge for us, it will be a challenge for them as well. You are looking at the number one and two in West Indies’ bowling line up,” said Sammy of his spinners Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine – ranked one and two in international Twenty20 rankings.
Badree took three wickets for 10 runs and Narine grabbed three for 16 as the West Indies thumped Pakistan by 84 runs in Dhaka on Tuesday to reach the last four.
The second semi-final will be between India and South Africa in Dhaka on Friday.
The final is in Dhaka on April 6. – Sapa-AFP