Chase says underdog tag makes WI ‘very dangerous’

ADMEDABAD, India:

West Indies Test captain Roston Chase believes that heading into their two-match Test series against India as an underdog and "with nothing to lose" will make them a very dangerous outfit.

The West Indies will look to end a 42-year Test series drought on the Asian subcontinent when the opening Test bowls off on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

India, who is ranked fourth in the ICC's Test rankings, will go into the series as overwhelming favourites having dominated the eighth-ranked Windies both home and away over the past three decades.

Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Wednesday following his side's final training session, Chase, who will be leading the Test team in his second series, said his side had been given very little chance of even winning a Test match.

"Obviously we're coming in as the underdog, we have nothing to lose so I think that makes us quite a dangerous side.

"When you really have nothing to lose you can just go out there and play freely because everyone is expecting us to lose, so we can just go out and express ourselves and play some good cricket and just try to be as free as possible and enjoy the cricket," Chase maintained.

"Even though it may be tough or things may not go according to the plan, it's Test cricket, so things can change in a switch, so it's just to enjoy those tough moments and try to bounce back at any point in time."

However, while Chase said the Windies would be playing with little pressure, he acknowledged that defeating India at home would be no easy feat.

"Going to any team's home country is going to be tough. Teams always seem to be stronger at home, but we're up for the challenge. Test cricket is always hard, so it's not anything that's new to us.

"Obviously we're not in a good position right now in terms of our Test status and we're kind of low in the table, but we have to put that behind us and just worry about what's ahead of us right now and play each day, each game, one day at a time, one step at a time, one session at a time and try to obviously learn the conditions as fast as possible," Chase said. - CMC