Oram warns Windies against underestimating Black Caps in absence of key players

Wellington: Veteran New Zealand all rounder Jacob Oram has warned the West Indies team against underestimating a young Black Caps unit, which is without three senior players during the two Twenty20 match series, starting on Sunday in Florida.

Oram said Windies would be in a stronger position than the Kiwis since they have played lot of cricket in the past few months and their main players have made a comeback in the squad such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine. On the other side New Zealand hasn’t played any competitive cricket in the past three months, and the absence of Jessie Ryder, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori could further dent their chances of winning the T20 series. But Oram believes Windies could be hit by overconfidence and complacency, which would work in their favour. “Look, they`re a good side, really competitive," Oram said. "They did well against Australia ... then they competed, I thought, pretty well against one of the world`s best sides in England,” Omar told reporters. “They may look at our team and our squad without the likes of (Brendon) McCullum, (Daniel) Vettori and Jesse Ryder and think we`re a bit weaker and I think maybe that`s where we can expose them,” Oram added. ANI