West Indies have the ability to beat India: Richie Richardson

West Indies cricket manager Richie Richardson today said he is well aware that India would look to bounce back from their forgettable England tour but believes in his side's ability and looks forward to beat the hosts.

"When you are a top team and you lose, you just can't wait until the next series to really put things right. I just hope that it continues to be a problem for India. We know they are going to look to avenge what happened in England. Put things right, because they were heavily criticised. But we are up for the challenge and we also have a lot to prove. So we are going to go there and play positive cricket and look to beat India," the former West Indies skipper said here in a press conference.

He acknowledged that India were a higher ranked team but said they have a good side that can beat anyone. "I believe that we have the calibre of players that can go out there and perform and play well enough to beat anybody. We accept that we are not at the top of the rankings, but the ability that we have, if we execute well, the guys are going to play confident and positive cricket. I believe we can do very well against India," he said.

India would play five ODIs, followed by a lone T20 match and three Tests against the West Indies, with the series
kickstarting October 8 with the first one-dayer.

West Indies have two warm-up matches before the series and Richardson said it would help them to get get used to the conditions.

"We have a few days to practice and get acclimatised. We have just come out of a successful series against Bangladesh and all of our players have been involved with cricket. Some are still playing (in Champions League T20). We feel we are in much better shape, much better prepared to take on the Indians and we are just looking forward to a very serious challenge, a good challenge and a successful challenge," he said.