Table of Contents
West Indies' hard times continue in India. They presented some moments of brilliance in both innings, but again, it was the Men in Blue who got their best at the right moment. Tonight (October 6), it was the captain Shreyas Iyer who took the team safely to the finish line, scoring an unbeaten 102 runs off 43 balls.
After the match, the West Indies cricket team captain Shai Hope explained their performance in the first of the five-match ODI series at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Hope blamed his batting department for the 8-wicket defeat against India.
Shai Hope explains why they went down against India in Lucknow
Speaking to the broadcasters after the match, Shai Hope, in his honest reply, said that they lacked some runs on the scoreboard, batting first in the match, because of the batters' faults. West Indies got 171 runs in 19.1 overs against all ten wickets, which was 20 to 30 runs short, at least from Hope's point of view.
"To be honest, you always put your finger on many parts in the game, but it just feels like we didn't get enough runs in the backend. I thought we may have been a little bit too chaotic in the batting. We were very aggressive about playing. But yeah, when you're playing in India, you gotta put runs on the board."
"You almost have to have like an extra 20 or 30 runs cushion because when you're trying to defend with the ball, the wetness on the outfield, the surface tends to get a little bit better. So you gotta give yourself a little bit more cushion," Shai Hope said (as quoted by Cricbuzz).
Shai Hope on the West Indies team combination
The team combination of the West Indies cricket team was under the scanner as most of their bowlers proved very costly while defending the 171-run total. Spinner Akeal Hosein was the bowler with an economy rate of 9.25, and the bowler who leaked the least number of runs in tonight's match.
"Well, sometimes you'd want a few more all-rounders to be bowling, some different options for you. But just the combination we had to go with today. You know, we expected guys to execute regardless of what skill set they bring to the table. But we just didn't have enough to get over the line today against India. And like I said, when you're setting a target, it's always more difficult down here," Hope added.
Shai Hope on using spinners late
While the fast bowlers were leaking runs, West Indies introduced their spinners late in the run defence. Hope at the presentation ceremony explained that they had plans to damage Team India's momentum in the middle-order. The plans, however, did not work out.
"Ideally, I would like them to be able to bowl eight overs each. We only had two of them in our side at the point in time. So we wanted to, if you got a couple more wickets, you still had a few left-handers in your back end, we could get Chase to come in and do some damage in the middle."
"But it just didn't work out for us today. You know, we wanted an extra spinner, but so many things you could look at in hindsight. But yeah, India played well, and they played better than us today," the West Indies skipper continued.
