Veteran commentator Joseph Reds Perreira says the West Indies delivered a creditable performance in the ICC T20 World Cup.
After an unbeaten run in the Group Stage, the Windies emerged as one of the favourites for the title. However, a nine-wicket defeat by South Africa in their opening Super 8 match turned Sunday’s clash against India into a virtual quarter-final.
That game went down to the wire, with India edging out the Caribbean side by five wickets with just four balls remaining.
Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY, Perreira praised the team’s effort, saying West Indies did extremely well to reach 199 for 5 while batting first.
“The opening pair gave us a pretty good start of 68, which set a good platform. Hope, who normally gets the ball away, was just having one of these very bad days. It happens to all outstanding players,” Perreira said. “The initial decision to play Chase as an opener worked extremely well. One must give Darren Sammy and the coaching staff who made that decision, full marks. Hetmyer may have been unlucky, but certainly the fight was still there towards the end and I thought West Indies had given themselves a pretty good chance at 199 for 5.”
Perreira also believes West Indies bowled fairly well against India during the high pressure game. “I mean one could say the bowling took India down to the final over. Yes, we had a masterclass from Sanju Samson, and had we in fact removed him, instead of those dropped catches, we might have had a chance, but he was the reason why India got to 199 for 5.”
The veteran commentator added, however, that West Indies bowlers needed to be more effective against India, in order for the regional side to achieve victory.
“Our bowling fell a bit short of the mark. I mean, Hosein 1 for 22 off 2, Ford none for 22 off 3. Holder, 2 for 38 off 4. Shepherd 2.2 overs for 34 runs, that really hurt us. During the tournament Shamar Joseph was also not the attacking bowler that we expected. He’s not had a good World Cup and is not bowling as quick as he used to bowl,” he explained.
In terms of the team’s overall selection, Perreira believes mistakes were made, with Shamar Springer and Amir Jangoo being unlucky not to make the squad.
“Well, you know, people can accuse me of being wise after the event, but I certainly thought that young Quentin Sampson from Guyana, it was a great opportunity for a young man but perhaps too early, too soon. I hope the experience of being in the World Cup will be reflected in the CPL, but I was surprised that he was chosen that early.”
He continued, “In terms of a reserve keeper, I would have gone for somebody who was probably much younger, as opposed to Johnson Charles who served West Indies well in the past. I thought it would have been a better investment to select Amir Jangoo, while all rounder Shamar Springer might have been a fairly good asset to have had.”
Overall the veteran commentator gave the West Indies World Cup performance a seven out of ten rating.
“The path towards the Super 8 stage was made slightly easier with the bad deal the ICC gave to Bangladesh.They have made all kinds of adjustments for India over the years. Scotland came in and it made that group weaker, so to speak.”
Perreira does not believe that captain Shai Hope should shoulder the blame for the regional side failing against India.
“Well, it was honourable of him as the captain, as the leader to take the blame for not scoring as quickly as he normally would. It was really statesmanlike, accepting the responsibility, but he’s done so much in the past that we would have to have short memories to really feel this was the cause of us losing.”
“The main problem was in fact, the bowling. If we were a little more consistent, building a little more pressure, Hope would not have said that. But good of him to be man enough to man up and say, ‘it was my fault while leading the troops’. He took the blame and one can understand and respect that, ” Perreira added.
kurtishinds@barbadostoday.bb
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