West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard on Wednesday (16th Feburary) expressed his disappointment after they suffered a 6-wicket loss in the first T20I against India in Kolkata.
Asked to bat first, West Indies were jolted early as they lost opener Brandon King in the first over for just 4 runs. After that Kyle Mayers (31) and Nicholas Pooran (61) stitched 47 runs partnership to steady the ship but the visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals and Ravi Bishnoi’s two wickets in one over reduced them to 74/4 at one stage.
Skipper Kieron Pollard then scored unbeaten 24 runs in 19 balls and helped his side post a total of 157 runs on the board.
While defending the target, West Indies bowlers looked clueless in the first six overs as Rohit Sharma (40 in 19 balls) smashed them all over the park, adding 64 runs with Ishan Kishan for the opening partnership. They did pull things back after that as they took the next three wickets in quick succession of time.
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But in the end, the target was not enough as an unbeaten 48 runs partnership between Suryakumar Yadav (34*) and Venkatesh Iyer (24*) helped India seal the match by 6 wickets.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Kieron Pollard pointed out that between 6-15 overs they scored only 46 runs and had they had more 20 runs on the board it would’ve been a competitive match. He lauded his bowlers for pulling things back after India went off the flyer in the first 6 overs.
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"Between overs 6-15 we only scored 46 in 9 overs and if we had 18-20 more runs during that phase it would have been competitive. After six overs they were in front, but I thought the bowlers and fielders did really well to pull things back. Different times calls for different things, they have quality bowlers and we have to play it as we see it," Kieron Pollard said.
Kieron Pollard further said that his side is working hard to get things right and it’s just a matter of setting it up properly. He remarked that with the ball being wet due to dew they struggled to bowl well and he wanted his bowlers to have a fair share to execute.
"The guys are working hard to get things right and again it's just a matter of setting it up properly. The ball was wet and the bowlers were bowling high full tosses and I wanted them to have a fair share to execute. Having said that, it was a very, very good game of cricket," he said.
The second T20I between India and West Indies will take place on Friday (18th February) at the same venue.
(ANI inputs)
