West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran said his team did not hold their nerve in the death overs after their defeat in the 2nd ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday.
India chased down 100 runs in the last 10 overs of the game to pull off a thrilling win with two balls to spare with Azar Patel hitting 65 not out.
“We lost it in the last overs, Axar played well and we didn’t hold our nerves. We could not keep things down in the last five overs. We felt that it got easier to hit spinners. And we gambled with Akeal bowling against left-handers. One wicket would have opened up things but Axar played brilliantly,” said Pooran.
West Indies had set India 312 to win the match with Shai Hope hitting 115 in his 100th ODI match, the fourth West Indian to achieve the feat.
“Hope’s innings was impressive, it was exceptional as a batting group. We wanna win, we wanna win pretty bad in the next game. That’s all we are aiming for,” the West Indies captain added.
Hope was also praised by India skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who scored a hundred in his 100th match back in 2018.
“It was great when I scored a 100 on my 100th match. Congrats to Hope on doing it, he’s a quality player. He’s got a bright present and future with West Indies,” said Dhawan.
The 3rd ODI is on Wednesday at the Queen’s Park Oval.
The opening match of the five-game T20I series is on Friday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Credit: Source link
