Keemo Paul believes the West Indies must execute their game plans more effectively if they are to beat India in Saturday’s series-deciding fifth T20 International and secure a series victory.
Paul had exceptional match figures of five for 41, while captain Shai Hope completed a record third T20 International century and became the fourth West Indian to score 2 000 runs in the format, as the regional side defeated the hosts by 24 runs on Wednesday.
Speaking during the post-match media briefing, Paul said the West Indies’ approach to the games had been simple.
“Every game is the same for us, you know. Whether we’re batting first or batting second, we try to be as positive as possible.
Keemo Paul (Photo by: BCCI)
“On these wickets you have to score big, and we didn’t win the toss today but I think captain Hope has been fantastic for us and the key partnerships with Sherfane (Rutherford) and (Shimron) Hetmyer, I think that gave us the runs that we needed. I think the team has been batting awesome,” said Paul.
India raced to 60 without loss in five overs before the introduction of Paul, who claimed a wicket with his first ball. He acknowledged that containing the home side during the powerplay had been difficult, but said the West Indies had been working hard off the field during team meetings, strategising and working on ways to reverse the trend.
“We have some pretty long team meetings so I don’t think we take that for granted. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what my field setting was and I knew my plan.
“Obviously, I won’t share my plan, but I think I executed pretty well tonight,” Paul added.
Dew during the second half of matches has generally resulted in teams winning the toss opting to bat second, but during the most recent game, it was not a big factor. Paul admitted this benefited the West Indies bowlers.
“Bowling on the wicket, the slow balls helped us here. Normally we weren’t getting any grip but it actually worked here. The game plan was just to stick to bowling into the wicket as long as possible and trying to execute our yorkers.
“You can’t be too hard on yourself as a bowler on these tracks. You know the margin for error is very thin, it all comes down to execution again, like I said so it’s just about one day at a time.”
(KH)
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