Following the nine-wicket loss at the hands of India in the fifth ODI, Windies head coach Stuart Law said that the players missed their opportunity to impress.
Windies arrived in India without some of their biggest names. Not surprisingly, not much was expected from them. However, the series gave the fringe players a big opportunity to make a name for themselves. But while the likes of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer impressed, the openers Kieran Powell and Chandrapaul Hemraj failed to grab the chance.
Hemraj made his debut in the first game of the series. The southpaw looked impressive with his strokeplay but failed to make his starts count. As a result, Windies dropped him for the final ODI.
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On the other hand, Kieran Powell once again failed to justify his place in the team. In fact, Powell was not expected to make it to the team after averaging a mere 12 in the 12 games before the series. But perhaps the absence of big names compelled the Windies to name him in the team. However, Powell completely failed to justify the decision. He began the series with a fifty but managed just 43 runs in the following four games.
And head coach Stuart Law did not mince his words as he said the players ‘at the top of the order’ missed the opportunity.
“For the players that we did bring in, it was an opportunity. The guys who got the opportunity at the top of the order, I think it is an opportunity missed,” Law said. “I’m not saying there isn’t another opportunity, there are three games in Bangladesh in a couple of weeks time. But I would have thought that playing here in India, on some of the batting paradises that we have seen, there could have been a few more runs scored by the two at the top.”
With Powell and Hemraj failing, it makes the road to the national team easier for the likes of Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis.
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Law, meanwhile, further heaped praise on Hope and Hetmyer. Both the players were the biggest reasons behind Windies’ stunning performance in the first three games as the visitors also drew level in the series at the end of the third game. Law also praised skipper Jason Holder who scored 161 runs at 40.25 and bowled with a lot of discipline.
“Jason Holder still proves he is not only one of our best batsmen but also one of our better bowlers,” he said.
The Australian, who will step down as Windies’ coach following the upcoming series in Bangladesh, further said that the team is still learning.
“This team is learning all the time. There is no better team to watch (than India). It is not a skill thing. It is about choosing the right option at the right time. If we can do that as you saw in game two and game three, we can play very good cricket. It is just a matter of bracing through those situations. We have learnt a lot. And if we haven’t learnt, we have done ourselves injustice. It’s time to put that learning into action,” he said.
Coming to the game, Windies completely failed to pose a challenge to their fancied opponents. Asked to bowl first, India bowled out the visitors for just 104. The Men in Blue then chased down the score inside 15 overs to seal the series 3-1. Both the teams will now lock horns in a three-match T20I series.