IND v WI 2022: Jason Holder says West Indies top-order needs to bat deep and put a big price on their wicket

Holder top-scored for WI with 57 in their final total of 176 in 1st ODI.

West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder, who top-scored in the first ODI against India here, feels that their batters should put a bigger price on the wickets in the remaining two games. The visitors lost the first ODI of the three-match series by 6 wickets after making just 176 after being asked to bat first.

Also, the West Indies team failed to bat the whole 50 overs, getting bowled out in 43.5 overs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Holder, who made 57 runs, hitting four sixes in his knock, said that the West Indies top-order batters need to put a big price on their wickets and try to bat deep and make a strong foundation for the other batters.

“We just got to put a bigger prize on our wicket, too many soft dismissals in the innings today (on Sunday). The pitch was a little difficult to start off but more or less we still got to dig a little bit deeper, put (up) a much better fight. We got a couple of days off and come back stronger,” Holder said to reporters after the match.

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The Windies top order struggled against the Indian spinners with Washington Sundar taking 3 and Yuzvendra Chahal picking 4 wickets. It was the 10th time in the last 16 games that West Indies failed to bat full 50 overs despite the presence of senior players like Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Holder, Shai Hope, and Nicholas Pooran.

“We got to dig deeper. I don’t think we are too far off to be fair. Our top-order just needs to go a little deeper, put a heavier prize on their wicket, and just get themselves a really good chance,” Holder added.

Furthermore, the former West Indies captain rued the wicket of Fabien Allen, saying that his wicket was the turning point of the innings for his team, as they were doing good together.

“It was a clear-cut situation where we needed to dig deep and spend time. Fabian is a very capable batsman (batter), he is one of those guys who can strike really well when he gets in. So, I just try and give him that confidence and we tried to build a good partnership, it is unfortunate when he got out, had he gone a little longer and we build a partnership a little further, we could have been in a real good position to finish the innings off nicely,” signed off the former captain.

The second ODI between the two sides will be played on February 9 at the same venue in Ahmedabad.

(PTI inputs)