West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph has lamented the lack of support from the batters after the tourists suffered a 6-wicket defeat in the opening ODI of the ongoing three-match series against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday (February 6).
The West Indies cricket team found itself in a tricky situation as the Indian bowlers wreaked havoc on the line-up by taking 6 wickets inside 22 overs for 78 runs in the first ODI.
No batter was able to counter the Indian bowling attack in the first ODI, though Jason Holder (57) was the only one who could score more than 30 runs to take the West Indies to 176 inside 45 overs on the board.
For Team India, Washington Sundar (3/30) and Yuzvendra Chahal (4/49) were the standout performers. Later, the Men in Blue chased down the target with ease at the expense of four wickets, thanks to Rohit Sharma (60), Ishan Kishan (28), Suryakumar Yadav (34*), and Deepak Hooda’s (26*).
Well, there was nothing much for the West Indies bowlers, but still, Joseph managed to make an impression by taking two wickets, that of Virat Kohli and Rohit in the first ODI.
After the defeat, the pacer said that the West Indian batter should have put more runs on the board to give any fight against India.
Joseph said after the match: “I just think, we needed to score a bit more, maybe 240-250 would have been a more challenging total on that wicket, but it is the first game out (here) and we have two more games left in the series. So, we will just go back to the drawing board and you know put our plans in (place).”
He also felt that pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium was difficult to bowl on for a pacer.
The speedster added, “It was pretty difficult, it was a pretty slow wicket, spin-friendly, so it wasn't really of much help for me, but I just tried to put in my efforts and put my best foot forward for the team.”
Joseph signed off by saying, “We had our team meetings and we had specific plans for specific batters, so we were just bowling according to the plan.”
(With PTI Inputs)
