Darren Sammy after Ravichandran Ashwin’s dismissal, on Saturday

Mumbai: Darren Sammy thinks that West Indies’ third Test of the series against India was a good advertisement for the longest format of the game. There’s not much to argue on that point. The Test was decided in the very last over, with both the teams having almost an equal chance of victory.

Sammy, at the post-match media conference, said that he was satisfied with the way his bowlers bowled. “We were definitely looking for a win… Beating a higher rung team, we would have got some points. Our target is to be among the top five Test teams in the world. The guys did not bat well, but bowlers did well,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I could not bowl in the second innings (because of a sore hamstring). With a bowler down, we really showed a lot of fight. The positive from this series is the way we kept our heads up when we were down, ,” he added.

The West Indies captain accepted that their batting let them down. “We were hoping to set a 300-plus target, bat till lunch and give them 50 overs… But after losing wickets in the morning session, we had to go back to the drawing board. We kept believing in ourselves, but we did not bat well… So we had to go for a draw. But in the end, it was a great Test match,” Sammy said.

Elaborating on his team’s batting collapse in the second innings, he said: “I think we took the position for granted… Knowing that we scored 590 in the first innings, we relaxed a little… ”

So, when did the thought of saving the match crossed his mind? “When (Virat) Kohli and (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni were batting... Around 15 overs were left and I think, India needed 50-55… I thought that they would not go for the runs, because Bishoo was bowling. In Dominica, they decided to block in a similar situation. But they decided to go for the runs. It was good to see them go for the runs, but we saw it as an opportunity to take wickets,” Sammy said.

“All sorts of things were going through my mind... At one point, the prospect of tie came to my mind… But I was speaking to Kirk Edwards... Either win or draw, we can’t afford to lose this. It shows once you have the belief, there is a possibility of achieving that. The way we batted in the first innings, a defeat would have broken our hearts.”