India vs West Indies: We Didn't Trust Our Defence As Much As We Should Have: Kraigg Brathwaite

West Indies’ stand-in skipper Kraigg Brathwaite rued his teammates’ lack of trust in their defence after the heavy loss against India in the first Test at Rajkot.

That a win or even a draw was almost an improbable outcome for West Indies against the world number one Test side was widely anticipated. However, the way West Indies had performed in recent times, the cricketing world was expecting them to give India a good fight. But in the end, they turned out to be no match for India as the hosts wrapped up the game inside three days. In doing so, India also registered their biggest-ever win in Tests as they beat the Caribbean outfit by an innings and 272 runs.

A defeat was very much on the cards after the Virat Kohli-led side piled up a mammoth 649 for 9. In reply, the West Indies batsmen failed to provide any resistance in either of the innings. In the first innings, they were all out for 181 before being bundled out for 196 in the second essay.

They entered day three on 94 for 6 and lost the remaining four wickets in 19 overs. Asked to follow on, they were bowled out again, in less than two sessions of play. The failure to learn from the mistakes in the first innings was clearly visible. The decision to fight fire with fire brought about their downfall.

Three of their top six batsmen fell while trying to attack against the spinners on Saturday. Even on the previous day, Shimron Hetmyer and Shane Dowrich threw their wickets away while trying audacious shots.

Unimpressed with the way the batsmen approached the game, Kraigg Brathwaite urged his teammates to trust in their defence.

“Going forward what we need to do is along with the attacking shots, trust in defence. I think that’s the key,” said Brathwaite at the post-match press-conference.

“Obviously when the field goes back, it’s a matter of still staying positive in defence also and putting away the bad balls, stroking the ball along the ground for singles. I just don’t think we didn’t trust our defence as much as we should have,” he added.

The stand-in skipper further asked the visitors to take a leaf out of Indian batsmen’s book on how to build the innings.

“I think what they can look at is how India batted. We saw the guys getting in and backing themselves. Obviously, Shaw was quite attacking, he was 100 per cent into what he was doing. Kohli obviously came in, took his time and flourished,” he said.

“I think if we can learn from them, that will put us in good stead going forward. Obviously a few nerves, it’s Test cricket so it is never easy but we need to take a page out of their book and take that into our batting. Trust in defence and obviously when you attack, go 100 per cent as well,” Brathwaite said referring to his inexperienced unit.

Brathwaite concluded by stating that the tourists can bounce back.

“It’s just for us to bounce back. Obviously, it’s not the start we wanted, but we can bounce back.

The second and last Test gets underway on October 12 at Hyderabad.