As the West Indies Cricket Board looks to reduce costs by instituting pay cuts for players, head coach Daren Sammy said the news didn’t help the team’s morale ahead of a big series.

“I mean, look, as a professional, that’s not what you want to hear before a series,” said Sammy on the eve of the final ODI against India here on Friday (October 2, 2026).

“Before the pay cuts, I said there is no better time to play India. You win against the best team, you get some leverage, not only for West Indies as a whole, but for you personally. Performing against India pays you back down the road. We try our best to put that there. I commend the guys for the way they put their heads down. Yes, the results have not gone [our way]. But we keep improving in certain areas,” said the two-time T20 World Cup-winning skipper.

On the positives so far, Sammy said he was happy with the intent shown by his batters even though the bowling has struggled.

“Intent is something that we’ve spoken about in the dressing room. We have had four batters scoring 100s in two games. It is a positive for us. The rotation of strike, the intent, especially against spin — these are the key performance indicators that we take.”

“But we still need to find ways, when the pitch is not really offering any assistance to the bowlers, to be disciplined in our lines and lengths and the plans that we put in,” added Sammy.