India vs West Indies 2018: We Need To Stick To Game Plans & Not Get Into One-On-One Battles: Jason Holder

Ahead of the first India vs West Indies Test, visiting captain Jason Holder has said he is confident of a good show from his side in the challenging series against the world number one Test team.

Not many teams have challenged India at home in recent years. In fact, they had last lost a Test series at home way back in 2012. The task for West Indies will be even more tougher. The current team not only lacks experience of playing in India but the history is also against the visitors.

India have won all the last seven Test series against West Indies while the latter last won a series way back in 2000.

However, Jason Holder in taking motivation from his team’s performance in England last year for the upcoming series. West Indies had famously defeated England before drawing with Sri Lanka and beating Bangladesh.

Despite the odds firmly stacked against his side, Holder is confident of a good show. The skipper also made it clear that West Indies are just looking to play good cricket as a team.

“It is a great challenge and everyone is up for it. We have pushed top teams in the last few years. This group has shown what they can do. We are just focused on playing good cricket and would not like to be drawn in personal battles,” said Holder ahead of the first Test.

West Indies have had decent preparation ahead of the two-Test series. They spent a week in Dubai training at ICC’s facilities before playing a two-day warm-up game in Baroda.

Holder, who is yet to play a Test in India, further said that patience will be important in the upcoming series.

“Patience plays a massive role in India. We need to stick to games plans and not get into one-on-one battles. We have discussed how we are going to score runs against their quality attack,” said the 26-year-old.

“One of the things I spoke about was patience, capitalising on every opportunity to score. Not be reckless at the same time but have a clear game plan to score,” he added.

Pace will definitely be West Indies’ strength. However, the visitors will have to play the series-opener in absence of their pace spearhead Kemar Roach. The right-arm pacer had to rush back home following the death of his grandmother.

Speaking about the pitch for the first Test, Holder said:

“It (pitch) was covered when I came today but there seems to be a bit of grass. The practice facilities are brilliant in Gujarat. But like I said cricket is played on the day. It is about executing your plans.”