India vs West Indies: Bring it on Chris Gayle, says Ravi Shastri

Mumbai: After Chris Gayle issued a warning of sorts saying he will target all the Indian bowlers in the semifinal, Team India Director Ravi Shastri took on Gayle challenge saying, “Bring it on. All our bowlers will target him.”

Although Shastri agreed that India will miss Yuvraj Singh after the ankle injury ended southpaw’s journey in ICC World Twenty20, he refused to go on the backfoot ahead of India versus West Indies semifinal clash in Mumbai on Thursday.

“It will have an impact. His three overs were brilliant in the last game and that helped us to comeback in the contest because it was no contest after first four overs. At one stage, it looked like 200-plus total and it could have difficult to chase on that wicket. So, he will be missed. It is unfortunate. It was an injury during the game. It is a minor tear in the ankle,” said Shastri.

While India have called in Manish Pandey, they are yet to decide whether he or Ajinkya Rahane would replace the all-rounder in the playing XI in the seminfinal.

The former Indian skipper praised West Indies but said the MS Dhoni-led unit is ready to take on any challenge.

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“I have said right from the beginning that they are one of the most dangerous sides in this format because they have got explosive players. They have got match winners. So, we know what we are up against. But we are up and ready as well. But this is not the knockout game. That was the last game, it was a quarterfinal. This is a semifinal,” said Shastri.

India had played a string of T20 games ahead of the mega event and the success they had helped the team.

“At the end of the day you want to be consistent and you have to take it one game at a time. That’s our approach. With every T20 game we played, we knew World T20 was coming up. But we said, let’s respect the format from the very beginning and treat every game as a knockout. So, you have to win every game which means it does not matter who the opposition is,” he said.

India were on the backfoot following a defeat against New Zealand in Nagpur in their opening game. However, the Team India Director said that hiccups like these are part and parcel of the T20 format.

“In this format, you are bound to get a hiccup. This is the shortest format of the game so things happen very quickly. There can be upsets on the way. But deep down, you have to focus on your strengths, do your best, keep hammering away at that and take it one step at a time. You can’t think too far ahead in this format of the game,” he added.

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Shastri though admitted that India have not played to their potential in this tournament and will have to up their game in the semifinal against West Indies.

“We played 70 per cent of our abilities in this tournament. So, there is 30 per cent areas where we can improve. And let’s hope it happens tomorrow because in semifinal, you got to get your A game. You can’t depend on one or two players and you need six to seven players to step up to the plate.”

However, Shastri singled out Virat Kohli for his brilliant batting display. Kohli single-handedly powered India to a six-wicket win over the Steve Smith-led Australian side in Mohali on Sunday.

“It was an outstanding innings. It was one of the best T20 innings you will ever see. I don’t know for how long T20 cricket will be played. But if you consider the occasion, the pressure, the kind of shots he played, it was unbelievable. All cricketing shots and he spread the ground,” said Shastri.

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The former Mumbai cricketer took over as Team Director after India’s series loss against England in 2014. Kohli, Dhoni’s deputy in ODI and T20 cricket had a horrible time dealing with swinging deliveries in England. However, he had overcome his weakness.

“I had no doubt when I took on the job seeing the form he was in as to knowing fully well he will be right back on to track. It was just the case of mind over matter. But you got to give him the credit for really believing that he can be right at there with the best and putting in the hard yard. Because let me tell you no one trains harder than Virat does,” Shastri, who had seen Kohli’s transformation from the close quarters, said.