MULTAN, Pakistan (CMC):
After being crushed by nine wickets inside four days in the opening Test last week, West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan says the regional team is determined to bounce back in the second match starting Sunday (tonight local time).
"We are very determined to win this game. Losing the first Test was a huge blow to us, but we have two Tests to go and this one is especially important to us because we have to win it to draw the series," Sarwan told reporters yesterday.
"We would love to go into the final Test match with the series level and still open. That is our plan, we are looking to (at least) draw the second Test and ensure the series is still open going into the final Test in Karachi.
"We will need to play consistent cricket over the five days, batting, bowling and fielding to overcome Pakistan."
West Indies, looking for their first win on Pakistan soil in 26 years, performed poorly with the bat to lose the first Test in Lahore.
Poor performance
Batting first after winning the toss, the regional side were dismissed for 206, and after Pakistan responded with 485, could only muster 291 in their second innings.
Sarwan also lamented his lean form and said he was hoping to get among the runs in order to contribute to the team's resurgence.
"I am more determined than any other time. I have been in poor form for the longest while, I haven't gotten any scores together on the entire trip to Asia and I am looking to put together a big score in this Test match to try and help the team," Sarwan said.
The 26-year-old also pointed out that despite the good showing by the Pakistani pace duo of Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir, the Windies would not be pre-occupied by them.
"I think that it's not going to be any different facing Gul and Nazir in Multan. In fact the conditions here seem to be good for swing bowling because when we trained today it was very overcast and thick," Sarwan noted.
"We should not worry about that aspect of it though as bowlers have to do their job and we have to do ours as batsmen. This is when you need to prove yourself in different conditions."
