What is the goal in Sylhet? Sammy wants the Dhaka mentality and 'a bit more hunger'

West Indies head coach Darren Sammy has set out his team's agenda in plain terms ahead of the Sylhet Test against Bangladesh. For him, the question is not whether this side can win, but how firmly it can repeat the mentality it showed in Dhaka. Sammy wants the first-Test victory to be more than a good result: he wants his players to carry that momentum forward, add "a bit more hunger", complete an away series win in Bangladesh, and finish both the year and the World Test Championship cycle strongly. In the opening Test in Dhaka, West Indies did not even allow the hosts four full days, winning by eight wickets. The result gave them a 1-0 lead in the series and, just as importantly, a base of confidence that Sammy is eager to stretch to Sylhet. His argument is straightforward: sustaining momentum built on one win is harder than creating it, and a memorable tour will require the same intensity to be reproduced in the second match. Speaking to reporters, Sammy said his team needed the same mentality with a little more hunger added to it. There was no anxiety in the remark, but a conviction rooted in the first Test — the way the batters planned against spin and the way the bowlers built pressure. The coach's intent is clear: he wants winning to become a habit rather than an exception. Leadership within the group matters here too. Captain Roston Chase, after the team's arrival in Bangladesh, challenged the players to discuss the team's goal openly and decide what they wanted out of the tour. It is the same approach Sammy is pushing from above — the coach sets the target, the captain takes it into the dressing room. The World Test Championship adds weight to the tour. West Indies have three wins in the current cycle and want to build on that base. Referring to past experiences against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia, Sammy also acknowledged that the team carries regrets from earlier series, where opportunities came close and slipped away. Winning a series on Bangladesh soil is a chance to fill that gap, which makes this match more than a single Test — it is a statement. Sammy was careful not to sound complacent about the opposition. Mentioning Bangladesh coach Phil Simmons, he said Simmons would not let West Indies' "dream" come true easily. Simmons is working to improve Bangladesh, and the hosts have their own WTC ambitions, so a competitive contest is expected from both sides. That acknowledgement keeps Sammy's remarks from becoming one-sided celebration — though it is also true that Bangladesh's perspective reaches the reader here only through Sammy's words. A concrete reason for the confidence is the preparation. Sammy credited the Chennai camp for the improvement in his batters' play against spin. His assessment is that West Indies' batters handled Bangladesh's spinners better in Dhaka, and that his own spinners matched the hosts' spin attack. In the same breath he called Brandon King's unbeaten 81 "special" — for him, evidence that the side has someone who can build an innings in difficult conditions. Behind all that confidence, however, the information base is limited. As a preview, this report rests largely on the coach's comments. There is no direct reaction from the Bangladesh camp, no detail on the Sylhet pitch or weather, no indication of either final XI, and no current standings. Claims such as an edge in spin are Sammy's assessments, not independently verified data. The reader learns what West Indies want — not yet the full picture of the contest. Through it all, Sammy's message is the same: treat Dhaka as a beginning and take it to its end. In Sylhet his team faces two challenges at once — maintaining its own rhythm and resisting the hosts' attempt to hit back. The coach has stated the goal clearly; the question now is how many runs and wickets, rather than words, it turns into on the field.