India's ODI Series vs West Indies: What Sammy Says It's Really About

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has been upfront about what he wants from the three-match ODI series in India, which starts Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram: a read on where his side stands, not just a result.

The backdrop is a long drought. West Indies' last bilateral ODI series win in India came in 2002-03, when Carl Hooper's side beat Sourav Ganguly's India 4-3. "It's been 24 years, we've not won a series here in India," Sammy said in comments carried by the ICC.

The context is the 2027 ODI World Cup. West Indies finished 10th in the rankings and missed direct qualification by six points, so they will go through the qualifier, which starts on 22 February. That means this series can't change their route to the tournament. Sammy's argument is that beating India at home is still the best test of whether the team's progress is real.

He pointed to a wider spread of runs as evidence, saying Shai Hope is no longer the only one scoring hundreds, and named Amir Jangoo and Sherfane Rutherford among those contributing. Alzarri Joseph is back bowling well after helping Antigua win the CPL title.

The player to watch is 19-year-old wristspinner Vitel Lawes, who debuted against New Zealand in July and took eight wickets in five ODIs at an economy rate of 5.30. Sammy called him "a find for us".

India are led by Shubman Gill, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the squad and Ravindra Jadeja back for the first time since January. Naman Dhir and Auqib Nabi are the uncapped names.

The ODIs are on September 27 in Thiruvananthapuram, September 30 in Guwahati and October 3 in Mullanpur (New Chandigarh), each starting at 2:00 PM IST.

For a team that will spend February in a qualifier, the series is a chance to find out how far they've actually come.