KOCHI, India, Friday November 22, 2013, CMC – Captain Dwayne Bravo says the loss of opening batsman Chris Gayle is a severe blow to the West Indies against India in their One Day International (ODI) series currently underway.
Gayle has been ruled out of the remainder of the three-match ODI series after he sustained an injury while making a desperate dive to save himself from a run out chance in the second ODI on Thursday.
He was carried out of the ground in a stretcher.
“Losing Chris is the worst to happen to us on the tour. He is our best player. He is no longer available for the series and that is a big blow for us,” Bravo said at the post-match press conference.
“Psychologically, also it is not good for us. Before we landed in India, we lost Kieron Pollard and now we lost Chris and they are two of our best players”.
Despite a top score of 59 from Darren Bravo, the West Indies lost by six wickets in the first ODI at the Nehru stadium in Kochi.
Virat Kohli (84) and Rohit Sharma (72) hit sparkling half-centuries in an easy run chase and Bravo has admitted that the Windies score of 211 was not good enough to defend.
“The pitch is the same for both the teams. I think we lost the momentum. The India bowlers are good and they have applied themselves well. 211 was not a good enough total for a team to win an ODI. Our batters did not perform to our expectations. We have to work on our batting,” said the West Indies skipper who hit two fours and a six in a knock of 24.
“I thought we were about 40 runs short. We had a good start even though we lost our star batsman Chris Gayle early. Johnson Charles and (Marlon) Samuels put up a good stand. We were on our target but we lost wickets and could manage only 211”.
Jason Holder was the pick of the West Indian bowling with two for 48 while Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine had a wicket each.
“I think our bowlers did very well even though some of them were not at their best,” said Bravo.
“But (Ravi) Rampaul and (Jason) Holder bowled very well and gave their 100 percent in their second spell.”
The second ODI between West Indies and India will be played at the Reddy Stadium in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam on Sunday.