The West Indies captain, Nicholas Pooran, wasn’t much disappointed despite a heart-breaking defeat by 3 runs in the opening match of the ongoing three-match ODI series against India at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Friday (July 22).
The West Indies gave a tough challenge to Team India in the first ODI, but the visiting team got out of the clutches of defeat owing to a brilliant bowling display and won the match by three runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
Pooran, on the other hand, believes that the West Indies' close defeat is as good as a win because their incredible fightback demonstrated to the entire world what they are capable of.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Nicholas Pooran said: “Feels like a win for us. Bittersweet, but yeah we keep talking about batting 50 overs and everyone saw what we are capable of and hopefully we can go strength to strength from here. Looking forward to the rest of the series.”
He added, “It was a good batting track and our bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them. It is difficult to lose but we will take this one. We need to believe in each other and I keep telling everyone that we will have our challenges, but important to focus on the positives.”
Batting first, India set a target of 309 runs for West Indies to win the match, thanks to brilliant half-centuries from stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan (97), opener Shubman Gill (64), and Shreyas Iyer (54).
Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph took two wickets each for West Indies. Chasing 309 runs for victory, the hosts batted really well, but in the end, they had to face a heart-breaking defeat. Kyle Mayers (75) and Brandon King (54) top-scored for West Indies, while Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets each for India.
(With ANI Inputs)
