West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran admitted that they are finding ways to lose games in the three-match series against India. The Windies were in the game in the first two ODIs but the hosts failed to add the finishing touches.
The home team lost the first ODI by a narrow margin of three runs and then lost the second game by two wickets. In fact, the Nicholas Pooran-led were in a shoo-in position in both of these two matches but they could not get over the line.
West Indies are not holding their nerves in the death overs and it is leading to their downfall. They are not winning the crucial stages of the matches and they will need to turn the tables in the death rubber.
Pooran said before the third game, “The confidence level is there. The guys are obviously hurt. Those two losses obviously hurt us a lot but that’s another game and that’s another experience and another opportunity for us to learn. This game keeps teaching us different things and I’m just happy that we’ve had that experience.”
Pooran added: “I keep telling winning and losing is contagious and at the moment in ODI cricket we’re losing and we’re finding ways to lose games, but in terms of the confidence level all the guys are ready for the challenge again. We’re ready to come out there and put our hearts and souls out there and perform together as a team.”
The left-hander added that they will look to come up with collective efforts in the upcoming matches. Pooran admitted that they are still a work-in-progress team in the ODI version and they will need to grab their chances.
“We’re just starting to obviously put performances together. I don’t want to come to a conclusion and say our batting is our strength or our bowling is our strength. As a team we’re still figuring it out.
“We haven’t put a collective effort together yet, obviously the results haven’t shown that yet, but the more games we play as a unit, we’re going to figure it out and we’re close to crossing the line and actually figuring it out what is our strength as a team.”
On the other hand, Shai Hope also scored a fine knock of 115 runs in the second game but the right-hander took a total of 135 balls. Pooran added playing anchor’s role is Hope’s job for the team.
“His role has remained the same for the last five years. I think he just needs to bat and bat through. He doesn’t need to study about the strike rate or any other thing. He just needs to be out there for the team. We know once he’s there, he’s going to score runs for us and that is what matters the most.”
