West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain for the Bangladesh series Jason Mohammed believes his side can turn pressure into performances with talks of an understrength and inexperienced West Indies squad making its rounds. However, the Trinbagonian was adamant in his first press conference that his young squad has what it takes to upset the hosts.
He said, “I wouldn’t call it more pressure. There are young guys who are looking to play international cricket so I don’t think it’s more pressure, I think it’s an ideal opportunity for all of us to put our hands up and say we are ready for international cricket. I don’t want to look at it as more pressure, I want to look at it as an opportunity.”
Mohammed was speaking after the West Indies’ ODI squad trained for the first time since arriving in Bangladesh on Sunday. All COVID-19 tests thus far have been cleared by the visitors. This is the second time in four years Mohammed will be leading the regional side in the shorter format of the game having skippered the ODI team for one match in 2017 against England.
He last played for the West Indies in 2018 against Bangladesh at Providence Stadium in Guyana. Added with his experience of leading the T&T Red Force team, Mohammed said he’s excited for the challenge.
“I have some experience because I’ve been captaining coming through the youth ranks so I have been captaining teams for a long period of time, but obviously this is a lot different. This is the biggest stage of cricket there is so it’s something that I’m looking forward to and I just want to enjoy the moment of leading the Caribbean team,” the 34-year-old said.
Mohammed explained that there was not much technical work that can be done at the highest level of cricket and his job was merely to ensure the team is in the right frame of mind heading into the series, saying: “My job is to try to make the team as relaxed and calm as possible and try to guide them in the right direction, especially in the field.
"There’s not much you can really do at the international level. I think everyone understands their game well although they’re young guys so it’s just for me to go through the plans and for us all to try and execute that.”
Mohammed also referred to the letter that was sent by West Indies legend Sir Clive Lloyd to the team saying it came as a great inspiration to hear from the two-time World Cup winner.
“That letter meant a lot coming from one of our greats. Those are the sort of things you want to hear because there is a lot of negative talk going around and when you hear someone like Sir Clive Lloyd it’s a great belief he puts within you and with the World Cup coming up it’s an opportunity for all of us here to put our hands up,” he said.
The West Indies ODI team will train Friday morning in Dhaka while the Test team will train in the afternoon. The first of three ODIs bowls off on Wednesday with the Windies playing a practice match two days before at the BKSP Stadium in Savar. The Test series bowls off on February 3 in Chattogram.