Matthews: WI better prepared for India

West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews believes the Caribbean team can overcome India’s dominance over them and turn their fortunes around in their upcoming T20 series.

Speaking during a pre-match press conference, Matthews conceded that India has emerged on top of the Caribbean side in recent times.

The last time the West Indies played against India in a T20 series was in 2019 in the Caribbean, when India won 5-0.

However, she said that the West Indies have been playing at a high level over the past two years and backed her team to emerge victorious in the three-match series, which will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi, Mumbai.

“When you look at 2024 as a team, especially in T20 cricket, we’ve done really well,” Matthews said.

“We played five T20s against Pakistan, winning four, two out of three against Sri Lanka, and then making a World Cup semifinal.

“So yeah, over that eight-year span, things might look like they haven’t gone that good, but I feel like over the past year, year and a half, we’ve done a really good job of putting the team together, and everyone really putting up their hand and playing their roles to get us wins,” she added.

“…When it does come to our record against India, it probably hasn’t been the best of late, but I think we were going through some type of transitionary period within the team, and our record against anyone wasn’t the best throughout that period,” Matthews said,

“We’ve been working really hard and really focused on our game and what we can improve.

“Obviously, coming up against a team like India, it’s going to be a tough assignment, but we have been playing some really positive cricket over the last year like I keep saying, and back ourselves to hopefully go out there and be able to change things around a bit,” she added.

Meanwhile, due to injury concerns, India’s Yastika Bhatia, Shreyanka Patil, and Priya Punia will all miss the upcoming T20 and ODI series.

India hopes to rebound from a 3-0 ODI series defeat by Australia and will be looking to pick up points in the series against West Indies and Ireland thereafter.