Published 13:47 IST, December 7th 2019
Kieron Pollard speaks about what went wrong for WI despite posting a huge total
West Indian skipper Kieron Pollard highlighted what went wrong for the visitors after their six-wicket loss to India in the 1st T20I in Hyderabad on Friday
India beat West Indies by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday. West Indian skipper Kieron Pollard has said what went wrong for his team and how they let the match slip away despite posting a huge total on the board.
Pollard on what cost WI the game
During the post-match presentation ceremony, Kieron Pollard said that one would defend a score of 208 10 out of 10 times on any day but they failed to do so because of their bowling and the extras that they had conceded. Pollard also added that their execution was poor and had they executed the plans or spoken about it, then the scenario would have been different despite the batting-friendly conditions. The two-time World T20 champions had ended up conceding 23 extras while defending 208. The Caribbean power-hitter hailed his batsmen and said they were exceptional with the bat while giving a special mention to Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer but at the same time urged that they as a team need to do the all-round basics right.
West Indies post a huge total
Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl first. Some poor bowling combined with sloppy fielding motivated the visitors' spirits as West Indies kept on scoring the runs freely. Evin Lewis (40), Shimron Hetmyer (56) and Kieron Pollard (37) played some entertaining cameos as the Windies posted a huge total of 207/5 in their 20 overs. It was an off day for the Indian bowlers but leggie Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/36 in his four overs.
In reply, India lost the wicket of 'Hitman' Rohit Sharma early. Skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then added 100 runs for the second wicket stand. Kohli anchored the Indian run chase when wickets fell at the other end. In the end, he took the Men In Blue past the finish line registering a six-wicket win. Virat remained unbeaten on a 50-ball 94 at a strike rate of 188 which included six boundaries and the same number of maximums.
Updated 14:45 IST, December 7th 2019