Sammy backs West Indies to respond against Bangladesh

'Game is evenly poised': Sammy backs WI to do well in 2nd innings against BAN

Sylhet, Nov 8

Towhid Hridoy's historic and unbeaten 242 powered Bangladesh to 386 in reply to the Windies' 356 as the hosts look to bounce back from the first Test defeat in Dhaka.

Sammy heaped praise on Hridoy's performance and noted that the match remains open, with both teams still in contention.

"I mean, it's a great game of Test cricket, you know. As I said in my press conference, Bangladesh, I expected them to come out harder. He played really well. Could we have done things differently? I'm pretty sure when we reflect, there's always room for improvement. But, you know, credit must be given to him for the way he played.

"I think it's the highest Test score by a Bangladeshi. You know, he played well. But there's still a lot of time left in the game, and that's the beauty of Test cricket. The game is evenly poised, and we've got to bat well today and put ourselves in a good position," Sammy said on Sunday ahead of the start of Day 4 in the match.

Amir Jangoo's 133 powered the Windies to a strong total of 356, and they will eye another strong batting performance to push for a result in their favour. "Let's just stay in the present, you know. Obviously, they've got some really good new-ball bowlers. The ball is fairly new. They're asking questions of our batsmen's technique. So we just have to make sure we don't let them have early inroads, you know, especially on Day 4.

"King and Da Silva have got to give us a really good start. And the way these guys have batted this year, you know, we've got some really good batters in form. So once we negate that new ball, I think we could put ourselves in a good position at the end of this play," he added.

West Indies were in a strong position at 259/2 at tea break on Day 4, with a lead of 229 and four sessions remaining in the Test match.

— IANS