Indian captain Virat kohli admitted 170 was never enough to defend after West Indies chased down the target easily with 8 wickets in hand to level the series.
The hosts won the first T20I quite comprehensively, but it was quite evident that the bowling was not at its best. And, West Indies managed to take full advantage of it in the second T20I as they chased down the total with 9 balls to spare.
Having lost seven out of the last 15 T20 games where they have batted first, Kohli feels his side seriously need to focus on the finishing.
“Numbers say a lot of things. They can say a lot of things that aren’t there as well. I think we were good for the first 16 overs while batting when we were 140 for 4. But then in the last four overs, we should have got 40 to 45 runs and we got only thirty. We need to focus on that,” he said.
All-rounder Shivam Dube was promoted up the order and the experience went too well for India as he smashed 54 off just 30 balls and created the platform for the hosts to finish big. But India lost the momentum in the last five overs and scored only 38 runs.
The Indian captain acknowledged Dube’s knock and also admitted that West Indies read the pitch better than them.
“Shivam’s knock helped us reach 170. To be honest, West Indies bowled cutters and their change of pace did not help us. They read the pitch better than us. West Indies played a very good game and they deserved to win,” Kohli concluded.
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard was happy that his bowlers did an exceptional job in restricting India to 170 despite Dube’s special knock. He also had words of praise for the leg-spinner Hayden Walsh.
“To be able to restrict India to 170 after my expensive over, it was fantastic. The way we batted, we had discussed how to approach the game, and the boys played it well. We have some guys who have done well from the CPL, and we are excited for them. I am pretty excited for this young bunch. Walshy’s four overs were really good. Kesrick bouncing back too” Pollard said.
