A confident West Indies captain Darren Sammy is speaking of destruction going into his team's second clash of the ICC World T20 against Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore India.
The West Indies thumped England by six wickets in the first match with master T20 batsman Chris Gayle hammering an unbeaten 100 of 48 balls. Today at 10am TT time, the West Indies will oppose Sri Lanka which would provide an entirely different challenge.
The two teams have had a storied past in T20 cricket, with West Indies beating Sri Lanka to win the 2012 title in Sri Lanka and being ousted at their hands at the last edition in 2014 in Bangladesh.
Sammy posed with a question from an Indian journalist, who asked his feelings on winning just one of the six previous T20 clashes against Sri Lanka, stood quiet for a while and replied: "We won the most important one, the final in 2012–simple."
Asked if he wanted to exact revenge for the 2014 semi-final loss, the affable St Lucian said: "I wouldn't say it is revenge. If this match was the final then we could think on those lines but it is only a group game."
Gayle goes into the clash knowing that the odds are stacked in his favour: "This is the home of the 'Universe Boss' (Chris Gayle) and so we are all excited about it. You saw against England. To me the most exciting part of that game was that Chris batted through. Tomorrow's game is very important in the context of how the group is placed. Before we came here, the coach mentioned that every game should be played like a final and we will do that."
Sri Lanka is missing the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene (both retired) and Lasith Malinga (injured) and this is a major blow to them. Their coach Graham Ford admitted that the absence of Malinga is huge.
"It has a huge impact because for so long he's been able to strike up front and then finish the innings off so well. Now we've got to find somebody to do that. There are a couple of guys putting their hands up and saying they want to do the job and with that sort of attitude I'm sure we can make something happen.
There was a tinge of green to the pitch at M Chinnaswamy stadium, but it is unlikely to hinder strokeplay. If anything, it might help the ball come onto the bat quicker. Chasing has been the favoured route here, even without the complication of dew. The forecast is for a clear day, but a cloudy night.
Windies vs Sri Lanka stats
Sri Lanka has won six of their previous eight T20I meetings with West Indies, with seven of the eight matches being won by the side setting the target and batting first. Six of those eight encounters have come in the World Cup.Twenty20, with five of Sri Lanka's six wins over West Indies coming in the competition.
Sri Lanka has won their last four World Twenty20 matches, only once before have they won five or more on the trot (6 games–2009).Tillakaratne Dilshan has hit more boundary fours (217) than any other player in T20I history, Chris Gayle meanwhile has hit the most sixes (98).
Nuwan Kulasekara has bowled more maiden overs (6) in T20I history than any other bowler, none of these have come against West Indies though.
STANDINGS
GROUP 1 STANDINGS
Rank Team Matches Won Lost Tied N/R Net RR Points
1 West Indies 1 1 0 0 0 0.973 2
2 Sri Lanka 1 1 0 0 0 0.58 2
3 England 2 1 1 0 0 -0.408 2
4 South Africa 1 0 1 0 0 -0.245 0
5 Afghanistan 1 0 1 0 0 -0.58 0
FAST FACT
Did you know that Chris Gayle averages 54.37 and strikes at 168.84 at the M Chinnaswamy stadium? He has three hundreds, eight fifties, 115 fours and 132 sixes.
TEAMS
West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Samuel Badree.
Sri Lanka–Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milinda Siriwardena, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dushmantha Chameera, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Jeffrey Vandersay.