BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC):
Nicholas Pooran said yesterday that his side would not be defined by “one bad game” as they chased a series-leveling win in today’s second Twenty20 International against India.
The home side was poor in the opener at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad last Friday. They gave up 59 runs from the last five overs to allow India to reach 190 for six and then collapsed to 122 for eight from their 20 overs in reply, with Shamarh Brooks the top-scorer with 20.
“Games will happen like this, and we have to put our hands up and say we were outplayed,” Pooran said on the eve of the contest at Warner Park.
“That’s exactly what happened in the first game, and that’s fine. That’s cricket, that’s sports on a whole, but we know we can compete, and we know how good we are as individuals and I believe we have a really interesting and entertaining T20 team.
“One bad game doesn’t make us a bad team. In the last couple of series when we played against England, we were always up for the fight, always challenging them – we know that as a team as well – so I have no doubt we’re going to bounce back in this series and continue to play entertaining cricket.”
West Indies will be focused on improving on the batting effort after conjuring up one of their smallest totals in the format inside the last five years.
STRUGGLED PARTNERSHIP
In fact, the return of Shimron Hetmyer after a nine-month break and all-rounder Jason Holder did little to inspire West Indies as they struggled to string partnerships together.
“For me, it’s just about batsmen getting starts. When we do get a start, it’s just for us to carry on – find a way to carry on and make it count,” Pooran urged.
“This is only our third T20 together as a team, and in the last 15 T20s, I think this is the worst performance.
“We knew something like this was going to happen. Unfortunately, it had to be the first game in Trinidad, but we know as a team, we’re going to bounce back.
“The batsmen are ready for the challenge and can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Pooran also called for discipline from his bowlers especially at the death, pointing out that this area cost West Indies dearly in the opener.
“That’s something we’ve been trying to correct for the longest while, and teams keep hurting us at the back end,” the Trinidadian said.
“As a group, we understand that, and we’re trying our best to come up with different ways to be better at death. So we’re going to chat again today, and have a discussion on what we can do better.
“We know as a group we need to bowl better at the death, but we have some games here and we can experiment with who are we going to try at the death and what are we trying to do at the death.
“Hopefully, everything goes well for us and we keep improving as a group and as bowlers as well.”
SQUADS:
WEST INDIES – Nicholas Pooran (captain), Rovman Powell (vice-captain), Shamarh Brooks, Dominic Drakes, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.
INDIA – Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh