West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said his team’s failure to keep wickets in hand between the 7th to the 11th over cost them the second T20I as South Africa leveled the five-match T20I series 1-1 by winning the second game by 16 runs on Sunday (June 27) at the Queen's Park, Grenada.

After a narrow defeat in the second T20I of the five-match T20I series, Pollard also admitted that the West Indians are aggressive cricketers by nature, but he alongside Nicholas Pooran needed to control their aggression while chasing the total of 167 against South Africa on Sunday.

However, the skipper was happy with the bowling efforts, especially the spinners, as the hosts successfully restricted the tourists to 166 in the 20 overs and the way they used the conditions, but disappointed that they fell just a few runs short in the second T20I in Grenada.

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Pollard said after the match, “The second day in succession our bowlers coming up trumps for us. We knew they will come hard at us. It is always difficult to defend in the first 6 with only two guys outside.”

He further noted, “Was a matter of bowling some good balls and try to limit the boundaries as much as you can. Having said that, they got off to a flier. But we used the conditions well after that and were happy when we kept them to 166. We had a normal discussion at the innings break as we were starting afresh at 0 for 0. I think we lost it between the 7th to the 11th over as we lost three wickets there.”

The skipper signed off by saying, “We are aggressive players by nature and that is no secret but myself and Pooran needed to control our aggression. We accept that for the team. Their spinners did a pretty good job. In the middle overs, maybe we can rotate a little bit more.”

Noteworthy, the third T20I between West Indies and South Africa will also be played at the same venue at the Queen's Park, Grenada on Tuesday (June 29).

(With ANI Inputs)