Corey Collymore in a file image.
West Indies bowling coach Corey Collymore Friday said that his team will have to come up with a mammoth effort to save the first Test against India.
The visitors were in deep trouble at stumps on the second day after being reduced to 94/6 in their first innings. India declared at mammoth 649 for nine.
"You have to be honest with yourself. India is in the ascendancy and it's only Day Two, already seriously behind so it's gonna take a mammoth effort for us to pull it back. But again, you don't come to Test match cricket to just surrender, said Collymore, the former West Indies pacer.
Collymore said the team's disappointing performance on the opening day and unavailability of captain Jason Holder and lead pacer Kemar Roach pushed them back a long way.
"Yesterday was a very hard day. You have to realise again with two young gentlemen - one making his debut and the other playing his second Test (Sherman Lewis and Keemo Paul) - they found it difficult with conditions, playing first time in India.
"I think the sub-continent is a hard place for any fast bowler, even with experience. I think that's the reason the captain had to rotate them a bit more today, to still give them a little bit of a chance. They were still feeling the effects from yesterday."
The 40-year-old from Barbados said the bowlers will learn a lot from the India tour including the home team's attack.
"From a bowling point of view, I stressed to the bowlers to have a look and see how well the Indians started. That's something I was talking out, our starts. If you look at yesterday, we started too wide and too short.
"Sherman was on his debut and he is a good lad, I saw him in the U-19s and in some of the practice games and he has got a fantastic record, but to me, it's still gonna be 22 yards and the lengths don't change. You have to be better at doing that going forward."
Asked if an inexperienced West Indies can compete in the series, he added: "We certainly haven't come down to compete. As a group, we have come here to win, doesn't matter if you are No. 1 or No. 8, so yes, that's what we are here to do. Anyway, our Test and limited-overs teams are quite different.
