We are up and ready to face West Indies: Ravi Shastri

India cricket team director Ravi Shastri has described the West Indies as one of the ‘dangerous’ sides in the shortest format of the game. Shastri was speaking at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai.

“West Indies are probably one of the most dangerous sides in this format and have got explosive players and match winners. We know what we are up against but we are up and ready as well,” Shastri told reporters here on the eve of the second semifinal clash at the Wankhede Stadium which promises to be a battle of nerves.

Shastri said that the team has been preparing for the mega event from a long time and treated every game as a knock out game.

“At the end of the day you have to be consistent and take it one game at a time and that’s been our approach. Every T20 team we’ve played, we knew that there was a World To coming up. But, we said, let’s respect this format and treat every game as a knockout and win every game which means that it doesn’t matter who the opposition is you have to just play the game.”

Ravi Shastri said that his team is fully prepared are ‘up and ready’ to pack a punch to seal their place in the final. He says that the Indian team is high on self-belief and has not compromised on work ethics when it came to putting in hard work and putting in the extra yard to get the distance.

He believes that India needs to put up their ‘A’ game in the high-octane semifinal clash and iron out their inconsistency in the batting line-up in order to reach their third summit clash in six editions.

“I still believe we played 70 per cent of our ability in this tournament. There are areas where we can improve. In a semi-final, you have got to get your ‘A’ game. You cannot depend on one or two players. You need six to seven players step up to play. It has not happened really so far in the tournament. Let’s hope tomorrow is the start,” added the former Indian cricket.

Ravi Shastri also praised Virat Kohli and said that “he is talented but no one trains harder than him.”

“When I took on the job and seeing the form Virat was in. It was just the case of mind over matter. You have to give him the credit for really believing that he can right up there with the best and putting I the hard yard because let me tell you no one trains harder than Virat. If he is as successfully as he’s been over the last 18 months, the credit must be given to him for putting in that much of hard work and believing I his own abilities”

Shastri also talked about the impact of Yuvraj Singh absence in the semi-finals. He agreed that the team will miss Yuvraj Singh and his all round services.

“It will have an impact. He has had his moments. His three over in the last game were brilliant and allowed us to come back in the contest. It’s an injury that happened during the game. He did his ankle while playing a shot. But I believe that it’s a minor tear. So, we’ll miss him.”

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