Skipper Jason Holder is extremely disappointed with West Indies' poor overall performance during the fourth ODI on Monday, October 29, but expressed confidence that the visitors will eventually bounce back and level the series.
Having seen his team go down without a fight and ended the day with a massive defeat of 224-runs at the historic Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, Holder said, "We definitely didn't play well. The way we started the series and the way we have played so far, we certainly didn't do any justice today."
"We conceded too many runs. I felt it was a very good wicket. It was a wicket where once you get in, you can go really big. Unfortunately none of our batters just really gave themselves a chance to bat deep into the innings," he added.
Batting first India piled up a mountain of runs, where on the back of Rohit Sharma's masterclass knock of 162 and Ambati Rayudu's solid 100, they reached a highly imposing 377/5 in the allotted 50 overs.
Following this, West Indies just melted under pressure and lost wickets in a cluster before finally getting bowled out for just 153 in only the 37th over of the run-chase, with Jason Holder scoring a very fine 54*.
For India, left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed picked up 3 wickets.
"Obviously cricket is played in a day and we just got to play clinical game all through the day. But it just didn't come off today. Hopefully, the guys can regroup in the next couple of days and come back strongly," Holder said.
"Yeah, good players, they play really well but we have shown we can get them out. It's just matter of being more consistent. You just have to take a bit of a gamble up front to take their wickets," he expressed confidence and stressed, "I reckon if you get their wickets, you are obviously in the show. Obviously, they are quality players, but you need to put a little bit more pressure on their middle and lower half, who probably haven't been tested as much as their top half in this series so far."
On Rohit Sharma's whirlwind and dominating knock, Holder showered praise on the might of India's opening stalwart and said, "It's tough. The conditions are such that they favour batters quite dominantly here. He (Rohit) is a really good player. Once he gets in there, he goes really big. We just have to hang in there, probably bowl outside off stump and try to get his wicket."
"There's no point in sticking to line and lengths for the first 10 overs trying to contain. You know how dangerous he can be once he gets in the flow, so you have to get him out," he signed off.
India, now, leads the five-match ODI series, 2-1.
The fifth ODI takes place at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, November 1.
(Inputs from PTI)
