KOLKATA: The sight of a West Indian batsman stealing a cheeky single is a rarity in international cricket but skipper Darren Sammy does not mind as long as the fours and the sixes keep flowing from their bats.

The Caribbean side flexed their batting muscle to storm into the World Twenty20 final against England who they beat in a group stage match in Mumbai.

Sammy is aware of the criticism of his team's poor strike rotation but believes the power-hitters can more than make up with big shots.

“People say we don't rotate our strike well, we'll talk about that but first thing is you have to stop us from hitting boundaries that has been difficult for oppositions once we get in that swing,” the ever-smiling all-rounder told reporters on Saturday.

The semi-final against India illustrated Sammy's point.

Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni ran themselves ragged in the game, stealing singles and converting ones into twos to help India post a strong 192-2.

As has often been the case, the West Indian batsmen dealt mostly in boundaries to chase down the target in the final over, smashing 20 fours and 11 sixes, compared to India's 17 and four respectively.

“I think since the inception of Twenty20, you've seen West Indies is a boundary-hitting team so that's no surprise for me,” said Sammy, who is seeking to become the first captain to lead a team to a second World Twenty20 title.

“We know the power we have in the dressing-room. So it was exciting to watch...(Lendl) Simmons, (Andre) Russell and (Johnson) Charles displayed that type of boundary-hitting against India.”

England have looked a vastly-improved side since that loss to West Indies but Sammy thinks his team will be unbeatable if they can play in the same manner.

“One of the senior players — I think it was Dwayne Bravo — made a comment in one of our tame meetings: 'the only thing that could beat is ourselves' and we believe that,” he said.

“Once we do what we could do well, nobody can defeat us and that is the mentality we take forward against England.”

Opinion

A long week

A long week

There’s some wariness about the excitement surrounding this moment of international glory.

Editorial

Unlearnt lessons
Updated 28 Apr, 2026

Unlearnt lessons

THE US is undoubtedly the world’s top military and economic power at this time. Yet as the Iran quagmire has ...
Solar vision?
28 Apr, 2026

Solar vision?

THE recent imposition of certain regulatory requirements for small-scale solar systems, followed by the reversal of...
Breaking malaria’s grip
28 Apr, 2026

Breaking malaria’s grip

FOR the first time in decades, defeating malaria in our lifetime is possible, according to WHO. Yet in Pakistan,...
Pathways to peace
Updated 27 Apr, 2026

Pathways to peace

NEGOTIATIONS to hammer out the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement took nearly two years before a breakthrough was achieved....
Food-insecure nation
27 Apr, 2026

Food-insecure nation

A NEW UN-backed report has listed Pakistan among 10 countries where acute food insecurity is most concentrated. This...
Migration toll
27 Apr, 2026

Migration toll

THE world should not be deceived by a global migration count lower than the highest annual statistics on record —...