Published: Aug 03, 2019, 11:59 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 03, 2019, 11:59 PM (IST)
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite was critical of his batsmen after they lost the series opening first T20I against India at Lauderhill, Florida on Saturday.
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India opted to bowl first and ran through the Windies top order, reducing them to 33/5 in six overs. Washington Sundar struck off the second delivery of the match, removing John Campbell before Bhuvneshwar Kumar accounted for Evin Lewis in the following over.
1st T20I: As it happened
Nicholas Pooran got the start but fell on 20. Kieron Pollard batted sensibly and thanks to his run-a-ball 49 that included two fours and four sixes, Windies managed to post 95/9.
“Once again, I don’t think we assessed conditions. Kudos to Kieron Pollard for leading us with the bat and showing his leadership skills,” Brathwaite said at the post-match presentation.
Pointing out that the batsmen need to be judicious with their shot selection, Brathwaite said that the intent will remain to play positive cricket.
“Had we made 130-140, it would’ve been a good total on this wicket. We showed great heart to take the game as deep as we did and it shows that we batted ourselves out of the game. We ask the guys to play positive, aggressive cricket as we West Indians instinctively do. The message would be to keep the intent, however you need to assess better and be smarter with shot selection,” he said.
Chasing 96, West Indies bowlers didn’t give up without a fight, reducing India to 33/3 at one stage. However, the total wasn’t enough as India overhauled the target, to finish on 98/6 in 17.2 overs.
The second match of the series will be played on Sunday, at the same venue before the series moves to Guyana for the third and final T20I.
