Defending champions West Indies are officially knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2021.
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard was extremely heartbroken after his side was knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 following the loss against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi.
Defending Champions West Indies were officially knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2021 as they suffered a 20-run loss against Sri Lanka in their fourth game of the tournament.
Bowling first, West Indies bowlers struggled against the likes of Sri Lanka batters, who came out all guns blazing and smashed bowlers all over the park.
The Dasun Shanaka-led side on account of vital half-centuries by Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka posted a mammoth total of 189 runs on the board.
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Chasing the target, West Indies was in all sorts of trouble as they were reduced to 52/3 at the end of power play. Nicholas Pooran and Shemron Hetmyer tried to bail their team out of the trouble but it was only a matter of time until the former was back in the hut for 46 runs.
While the wickets kept tumbling at one end, Shimron Hetmyer kept West Indies in the hunt and smashed Sri Lanka bowlers all over the park for his unbeaten 81-run knock but failed to take his team past the finishing line, with WI falling short by 20 runs and were knocked out of the tournament.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Kieron Pollard said that it’s heartbreaking to be out of the tournament. He admitted that their batting department has struggled throughout the entire tournament and it’s something that hasn’t helped them.
"I think it's heartbreaking. A lot of different things might have gone wrong from the start of the tournament, during the tournament. The batting has struggled throughout the entire tournament. It has been disappointing, it's something we've seen over and over and it's something that hasn't helped us,” Kieron Pollard said.
Pollard said that they’ve to accept that his side was not good enough and the players are disappointed.
"We just have to accept we weren't good enough. The guys are disappointed, I am disappointed myself. Hopefully at the end of the campaign when it's finally over, we'll be able to sort of give some information what we think or what we thought might have gone wrong," he said.
Pollard said that he’ll continue to play international cricket as one bad tournament doesn’t define a player. He added that there’s a lot of mileage in his legs but it depends on the board whether they want to pick him in the squad or not.
"Unless you are part of the decision that is going to get rid of me or fire me or retire me, as I stand right now, I have no intentions of not playing international cricket. One tournament or a couple of bad games don't make a summer.
“For me personally, there's a lot of mileage in my legs other than individual. There are people in the front scenarios who make decisions and I can't, when it comes to that question, I can't make that decision,” he said.
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Kieron Pollard further said that they accept that they played bad cricket throughout the tournament. He added that as an individual he played good cricket for the last 18 months and two or three bad games won’t lead him pulling out.
“But again, we have a tendency as things go badly, the easiest thing for us to do is look for things to blame and chop and change and do different things. But we accept that. I accept that. I take it on the chin.
“You know, sometimes you have to absorb the pressure before you apply, but personally as an individual, I have played a lot of good cricket in the last 18 months or two years or so, so three or four games, not going to lead to Kieron pulling out, I'm sorry," he said.
West Indies will next face Australia in their T20 World Cup clash at Abu Dhabi.
(ANI inputs)