Simmons identifies patience as key to succeed against India

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons believes that patience will be a crucial factor to succeed against the quality Indian side and that too in pitches which are likely to be sluggish in the forthcoming four-match Test series.

West Indies will take on the Virat Kohli-led side in the opening match here at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday and Simmons believes that persevering with bat and ball would be decisive against the second-ranked side in the world.

"One of the words that we're going to harp on a lot is how patient we are, because we tend to get bored of bowling [at] one place and doing well and not getting wickets, so we try something [else]," coach Simmons was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo reported.

"So we're going to harp on this, trying to be patient and do the things that we're doing well, continuously, so that we get the wickets, and same thing with batting. You bat long and you stick around, you work hard and you'll get the just reward at the end," he said.

With fast bowler Jerome Taylor calling time on his Test career and Kemar Roach being ignored, West Indies enter latest home season with their weakest ever bowling attack- Carlos Brathwaite, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder and Miguel Cummins.

West Indies will be playing their first five-day series since losing 2-0 to Australia in December and January.