(CMC) – Faced with a pitch for the opening ODI against Bangladesh that West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has described as something he’s never seen, he has called on his troops to quickly assess the conditions and make the necessary adjustments.

The West Indies will take on Bangladesh here on Saturday at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in the first of three ODIs, with both sides seeking crucial points in their bid for automatic qualification at the 2027 ICC World Cup in South Africa.

While Sammy said he expected conditions in Bangladesh to be similar to those in India where the West Indies just concluded their two-match Test series, he raised some concerns about the state of the pitch after seeing it on Friday.

“The captain has not seen the wicket, but I have. I’m not sure if we could replicate it, we’ve never seen anything like that, but we all know the challenges that the sub-continent brings, especially to our batters.

“We will not let the pitch play on our minds. Wherever we go the mantra remains the same. You still have to assess the conditions that you are faced with and then once you’ve assessed it, you have to decide what skillset is required to be successful and you back yourself in the delivery,” Sammy said during a pre-match press conference.

He, however, admitted that with most of the ODI batsmen having been in India, he expected that to give them an advantage.

“I think coming from India is something to our advantage…it is the closest conditions you’d get, but at the end of the day the experience, the knowledge, the application of oneself at the crease and understanding what is required and assessing the conditions very quickly [is critical].

“For some of the guys it’s probably foreign to them, but the learning will have to be done whilst we play,” Sammy said.

“Like I said, it’s going to be a challenge here in Bangladesh from what I’ve seen, but one challenge which I think my team is much prepared for because most of my batters are coming from India and transferring here to Bangladesh.

“We’re on a quest for automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa and that’s what the team is focusing on, getting those points to give you that automatic qualification.

“The last ODI series we played against Bangladesh, at home, was a successful one. We know they’re a team that always brings that challenge to you at home so my guys and my captain would agree that we have to come here and play some good cricket in order to win,” the head coach added.

Meanwhile, captain Shai Hope said even though West Indies defeated Bangladesh in their last series at home and Bangladesh was recently whipped 3-0 by Afghanistan in their just concluded ODI series, the West Indies would not be taking them lightly.

He maintained that despite those recent results, Bangladesh was still a very dangerous side when playing at home.

“When we speak about cricket, it’s always that the better team on the day wins, so regardless of previous results, whether it’s a long time ago or the recent past, it’s still important to play the cricket on the day.

“We understand that Bangladesh is a very, very powerful team, especially in their own conditions, so West Indies coming here in these foreign conditions, we understand the challenges and then we see what they’ve done in the recent past, so that could also be a motivation for the Bangladesh team, so we’re definitely not going to be taking that lightly,” Hope said.

ODI SQUADS

WEST INDIES: Shai Hope (captain), Alick Athanaze, Ackeem Auguste, Jediah Blades, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Amir Jangoo, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Khary Pierre, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd.

BANGLADESH: Mehidy Hassan Miraz (captain), Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Saif Hassan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mahidul Islam, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Hasan Mahmud.