'I know what it takes to be here' - Khary Pierre on returning to the national fold

West Indies left-arm spinner Khary Pierre has revealed that he was not ready for international cricket when he debuted five years back. The left-arm spinner, who played his last ODI game in 2020 against Ireland, was picked in the 15-member squad for the tour of Bangladesh and he immediately made an impact with his bowling picking up 1-19 from10 overs.

"It's great, it's great. I love cricket, I love playing for the West Indies. International cricket also is a dream of mine," Pierre said ahead of the second game.

"I'm here and I'm trying to relish the opportunity and the moment. I'm just trying to take it game by game. I'm just trying to help my team win games. Most importantly, once I can help my team win games, I feel like I've accomplished something," he said.

"Knowing myself, I'm a hard worker. I never give up. And it was about taking the learnings from when I was there five years ago," he said. "I didn't think I was as ready as I should be. And those five years, I've been trying to put in the work, trying to get back at this level. And I know what it takes to be here," he said.

"I know how challenging it is. So it's just about me continuing to work, to take the right things for a long period, trying to improve my game all the time and stuff like that. So it's been a rough road, but I'm taking it game by game and just trying to improve as much as possible," he said.

In the recent past, the black soil wicket turned out to be topic of discussion given how it assists the slower bowlers but Pierre is ready to adapt no matter what surface the team plays on. "Well, as I said, the surface is spinner-friendly, but we have to play on any wicket that is provided for us and most importantly we have to adapt," he said.

"So the wicket, it doesn't matter about the wicket anymore. It's about playing the game and playing the game the right way, adapting to the conditions," he said.

"Back home also, there are similar wickets, but as I said, we have to adapt quickly. Coming here and seeing the wickets, it is spinner-friendly. You want to put the ball in the right areas, but as you said, it's a lot of pressure if you don't do well on these kinds of surfaces," he said.

"So I just try to keep it simple and stick to my plans. I think once you put the ball in the right areas, do not go wicket hunting. I think it will be best suitable for the wicket. From the time you want to go wicket hunting, then you can leak runs. So I just tend to keep it simple, as you can see. I just try to put the ball in the right areas, keep it tight and try not to let the batsman make the mistake," he said.