West Indies not taking Bangladesh for granted, says Brathwaite

ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC):

DESPITE HAVING a dominant record against Bangladesh at home, West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite has given the assurance that his side will not underestimate the visitors in their two-match series starting today.

Bangladesh last won a Test series in the Caribbean 15 years ago, with the Windies having swept the last two against them 2-0.

However, speaking during a pre-match press conference yesterday, Brathwaite said history would not dictate the outcome of the series.

“Everything that is gone is history. We are playing against a talented Bangladesh team. What is gone is gone and, obviously, we have to come tomorrow and start well in whatever we do.

“… We’re playing against a talented Bangladesh team and it won’t be easy. The performances before are gone, so we have to come ready to go tomorrow morning,” Brathwaite insisted.

He admitted that while 2024 had not been smooth sailing for the West Indies in Tests, he said the mood in the camp was still very good. Brathwaite said there was still much left to play for, especially with crucial points going towards the World Test Championship.

The skipper also pointed out that he expected his batters to come good in this series, especially considering that several of them had performed well in the ongoing Regional Super50 competition.

“We’ve been having a difficult year thus far, but we had some good performances with the bat and it’s just to draw from them as much as possible. We have four innings here and it’s just to back your plans 100 per cent,” Brathwaite said.

“Obviously, we looked at the points as a team and we know that we have four games left in this cycle and we can still pretty much come high up in the table, but we just have to believe.

“I think the batters are in a good space. A few of the guys would have played in the Super50 and got some scores. So that was good to see and it’s just all about that belief,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz said, despite missing some key players for the series, he expected the team to give a good account of themselves.

“We are practising a lot and we have been working hard the past few days … .We are thinking positive all the time and we are focusing on our game.

“We are missing some senior players. It’s been tough, but we still believe that we can be better. We have a good side right now, young players coming up, and they have the opportunity to perform in these conditions,” he said.

“We believe that we can play well and we can come out strongly.”