BENGALURU, India – West Indies A-Team head coach Junior Bennett said he has confidence in the players on the tour of India and wants to see them play above expectations.
Bennett said he was heartened by the performances from his side during their home series against Sri Lanka-A in June, but he wants to see improvement from the players, starting with the first One-day match against India-A on Sunday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
"This is a very important series for us," said Bennett. "They are a number of young players that needed an opportunity to show their skills and now they have got it.
"They need now to grab that opportunity and if we can stick to the basics and play consistently, I think we can be competitive, so we are all looking forward to it."
He added: "We will make the most of the time available to us and try to prepare as well as we can for the first match on Sunday.
"I always like to start a tournament positively and this should help us to set the tone for the rest of the matches."
There is an incentive for the players on the A-Team – with the senior team set to tour India next month, outstanding performances could easily be rewarded with a return ticket to the south Asian nation.
Kieran Powell, one of the players looking to formalise his place in the senior side, has been handed the reins of captaincy and Bennett had high hopes for the left-handed opener from Nevis.
"It will be my first time working with him as a captain, but he’s a good, young player and he’s been given a good opportunity to be captain, so he will have to do his best," said Bennett.
"I think this is a good move because we should be trying to blood someone for the future. We do not know what will happen five or eight years from now, so I think ‘Pow Pow’ is intelligent enough and knows the game and we will see what happens here."