Lacklustre is probably an underwhelming word to describe the performance dished out by West Indies today at Port of Spain, Trinidad. In the bowling, skipper Jason Holder’s ineffective captaincy came to the fore as the hosts fielded with zero motivation. The Indian batsmen were offered runs for presents, which were gleefully accepted.
The more disappointing aspect though was the effort made by the Windies during the run chase. Needing well over 7 runs per over right from the very offset, none of the batsmen even tried to get close to the target. The initial damage caused by the brilliance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar was enough in setting the West Indies back.
Once Kumar rattled the hosts, it was then the turn of debutant Kuldeep Yadav to make a mark, as he picked up three wickets, to round off a memorable debut. Towards the end, the game seemed to be a mere formality, as India comprehensively won by 105 runs, making it the side’s largest victory against West Indies in West Indies.
Post the loss, skipper Jason Holder admitted that the Indian openers set the base and played quite well.
“We didn’t really bowl that well,” said Holder. “We didn’t close out the innings well, and we didn’t have momentum going at the start of our chase. I thought we were tight to their openers, but Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane are quality players, they played some good shots, beat the infield.”
“Today I probably struggled a little with the wet ball the (about the full-tosses). I thought Shai played really well, he showed good intent and got good support from Evin Lewis. Good to see Roston Chase coming in at the end and getting some runs as well,” Holder further added.