West Indies need to win Friday’s second T20 International against India to keep the series alive and have any chance of becoming the first touring team to defeat the hosts in a T20 series at home in seven years.
India are on a ten-match winning streak in the format, while West Indies have won only two of their last 12 T20 games between the two sides. Additionally, West Indies have won two of their last five T20 games.
Speaking ahead of West Indies’ must-win game, assistant coach Ravi Rampaul said the bowlers would play a key role, given how easily teams have chased down large totals during the tour.
“It’s just about executing our plans as a bowling group and we see that when we do execute, we get opportunities to take wickets. It’s about building that confidence as a bowling group, knowing that the conditions would be the same throughout India.”
According to Rampaul, West Indies are also working on their batting plans to address their tendency to lose wickets in clusters.
“You know, it’s something that’s been plaguing us in the past, losing the wickets in clusters and it happened again. We see when that happens, we struggle a little bit in the middle.
“The pitch did offer a little turn for the spinners in the middle (during the last game), but those three wickets that we lost really set us back. I think we made it back up in the end as a batting group however.”
Romario Shepherd batting in the nets ahead of Friday’s game. (Photo by: CWI Media/K.R. Deepak)
Rampaul acknowledged that the flat pitches in India have offered little assistance to West Indies’ talented bowling line-up, but backed the young unit to improve over time.
“Definitely if you look at our T20 bowling line-up, it’s a young one.
The guys haven’t played more than 15 or 20 T20 Internationals and it just boils down to the experience of the bowling group and then the execution of our plans. We weren’t good enough to execute for longer periods during the game.
“It could be a little bit frustrating when we come up with plans and then the bowlers don’t execute. Obviously it’s a high pressure situation that you’re playing under as a bowler. I think it’s a little bit about not being consistent enough,” Rampaul explained.
Asked about West Indies’ ability to handle quality spin bowling, Rampaul expressed confidence in his side’s ability to meet the challenge in the remaining games.
“I mean in our middle order we have Hetty and Shai as well. They are very good players of spin and we see that when they bat through the middle, we put up big scores. So it’s obviously for our better batsmen of spin to bat longer into the innings.”
(KH)
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