Rajkot: West Indies coach Stuart Law is not reading much into India’s recent troubles in overseas Tests and says his fast-improving team faces a huge challenge against the world number one side in the two-Test series starting here on Thursday.
“We have spoken a lot (ahead of the series). We played two good home series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. At the same time, I don’t read too much into India’s form in England. I was there watching pretty closely. It was a lot closer than the 1-4 scoreline. England were just able to win the crucial moments,” Law said Tuesday.
“India are the number one side, we are further down the ladder (at 8). We are playing in their own backyard, it is a huge task. Not many teams have come here and won. We understand that but on the flipside we are getting better and better’, said the Australian, who will join Middlesex after the tour of India and Bangladesh.
The last time West Indies won a Test series against India was at home in 2002. The team has lost six straight series against India since then. Law, however, sounded confident going into the series opener.
“We spent good eight days (in Dubai) before we came to India. Then we had a good couple of days in Baroda (only tour warm-up), the pitch was similar looking to what I see here today. Preparation has been good. We have talked a lot but it is time now to stop talking. It is time the boys show what they have got on the field. Touring India has always been tough for teams, we have to show the world that we can play the game and grab hold of those opportunities,” said the 49-year-old cricketer-turned-coach.
Indian openers struggled against the moving ball in England. Asked about the West Indies opening combination of Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell, Law said batting in the top-order is only getting tougher.
“Look we are seeing a pattern arise that batting at the top three and four has become quite difficult. Kraigg and Kieran have opened the batting plenty of times together and they have been good so far here.”