West Indies need to play smart cricket in ODIs - Bravo

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies' ODI captain, wants his team to be "skillful and smart" as they take on India in a three-match series, starting with the first ODI in Kochi on November 21.

In spite of the 2-0 rout in the Test series, Bravo was confident that his bowlers could challenge the India batsmen in what he expects will be a high-scoring series.

"Their previous series [against Australia] was a run feast. But these are different conditions, different venues, and we have a different bowling attack," Bravo said. "Our bowlers are similar to the Indian bowlers. We have Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder. I think we expect this will be a high-scoring series and the team that bowls better will win the series, so it's up to us as bowlers to try and get things right."

According to Bravo, pace was unlikely to help the bowlers too much in Indian conditions. Instead, he urged his bowlers to focus on skills.

"This will require more skills, not too much pace, as we saw with the Australians - most of their bowlers delivered at 140 kph and they were not successful. My advice to my team will be to be skillful and smart."

Bravo also hoped that the change in formats would allow players like Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle to hit form. Gayle scored 97 runs in four innings during the Tests at an average of 24.25, while Sammy could only muster 25 from four innings and was wicketless in the series.

"I think one-day and Twenty20 cricket give you more freedom," Bravo said. "Darren Sammy did not do well in the Tests, but he could be our match-winner in the ODIs, playing the role that Kieron Pollard has played for us. Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels could also find their feet here.

"It has been a while since we played a Test series, so coming to India was never going to be easy, even Australia came here and lost 4-0 in a Test series. This will be an opportunity for the players to express themselves, but they still have to be smart. There are 300 balls in every innings and, as long as they play smart, we will have a good series."