KOCHI, India – West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo said his side would have to “dig deeper and work harder” to overcome hosts, India, in the remaining two matches of their One-day International series.
West Indies failed to defend a victory target of 212, as Man-of-the-Match, Virat Kohli, hit the top score of 86 and Rohit Sharma made 72 to take India over the threshold with 88 balls remaining in the first One-day International at a humid, packed Nehru Stadium on Thursday here.
Earlier, Darren Bravo, the captain’s younger brother, had gathered a workmanlike 59 and opener Johnson Charles made 42, as West Indies were dismissed for 211 in 48.5 overs, after they chose to bat.
The younger Bravo and Marlon Samuels were victims of deliveries that squatted, but Bravo failed to lay the blame for his side’s loss on the pitch.
“We can’t blame the pitch,” said Bravo. “Both teams played on it. Nothing changed. Unfortunately we end up on the side [with] the luck not going our way. India are playing good cricket at the moment and the luck and momentum is on their side.
“Two of our better players got starts and were unable to carry on because of deliveries that kept very low. In the Indian innings some balls kept low as well, but they were not [on target].”
Spinners Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin shared eight wickets between them to put the skids on the West Indies batting.
“The Indian bowlers executed their game plan well,” said Bravo. “They understood the straighter they bowled, the harder it was for us to score.
“We did not maintain our discipline long enough, and so we ended up on the losing side. A total of 210 on that pitch with a small outfield was never going to be enough, even if a few deliveries kept low, we still needed to do a lot better.
He added: “We fell 40 runs short. We had a good start even after we lost Chris Gayle in the first over, which was a big blow for us. Samuels and Johnson Charles put up a good partnership, so we were hitting our targets, but we kept losing wickets. As a batting group, we had set a target of between 280 and 285, but could manage only 211, and we were on course.”
During the first 15 overs and the second 15 overs of our innings, we were on target to reach our proposed total, but we kept losing wickets at crucial times and it is always difficult to ask tail-enders to bat during the last seven or eight overs in an ODI.”
On the work of the bowlers, Bravo said: “Starting with the two fast bowlers, Ravi Rampaul and Jason Holder, they gave everything even in their second spells. Sunil Narine played his part, and the fielding was good at times which is also very important, so as a captain, I am pleased with the effort we gave in the field, but obviously we have some work to do with the batting.”
On Kohli and Sharma putting on 133 for the second wicket, Bravo said: “At the moment, the two of them are in good form, good touch. When you look at the Australian series, the Tests and even this match, they are at the top of their game. They played very well and everything is going in their way. [It is] always difficult to bowl to batsmen in such form with that quality. They are two world-class batsmen.
“They are playing at home and know the conditions better than us and took the game away from us. Difference between both teams is that when their top three or four batsmen get starts they carry on and put their team in a winning position. That is something we have to learn. Chasing 211, once two of your top four batsmen get 50s, the game is over.”
In the test team to India / New Zealand they have two professional wicket keepers in Ramdin and Walton. yet for the ODI’s they experiment with Johnson Charles, who does not keep for St. Lucia or Windward but somehow is good enough to keep for West Indies I guess to kill him and then drop him later if he fails with the bat. Now if they do not want to go back to Ramdin as W/K in ODI’s although, mark you, he was preferred over Carlton Boure in ODI’s while Carlton was preferred in test, then why not go back to Fletcher, who is a good enough W/K and hard hitting batsman anywhere in the order? You see confusion! Also, what about Simmonds who kept wicket for Trinidad and West Indies before, and in my opinion should have been developed long time to replace Ramdin in the longer version as well as ODI’s since he can play all the shots and can be very acrobatic like jeff Dojon with the gloves. A wicket keeper is not just someone that can block balls but someone who can lead the team on the field and in my opinion, Charles is not that person and needs to concentrate on his batting. I think we have the talent but poor management, poor selection and no vision whatsoever is what is really killing West Indies.
Look at the test team that played two tests in India and has been retained for the New Zealand tour. Who is the third opener should any of the two gets hurt hours before the game? yet they had Brathwaite in India where he has had some success but is not on the test team to put pressure on one of the openers like they use to do to Devon Smith even when they were playing a series in the Caribbean. Poor selectors and as a result poor team and expect the same old result.
We have a lot of problem to overtake: Very poor team selection and no one seems to be checking stats to better matchup players like we see in basketball and baseball. Check the team that just played the 2tests in India. On that team apart from maybe Chanda and maybe Daren Bravo, just on top of my head I don’t think anyone else has more Success against India and the sub continent than Kirk Edwards. In his 4 tests against Indian both home and away he has one century and about four fifties with an average of over 80 per game. Went to Bangladesh where conditions are similar and got his 2nd test 100. Just before the series against India, he was there with the A team and had scores of 104 and 91. Yet they did not play him in any of the test. Do we have statisticians? Then what about Narine who has had very good success in India. How do you leave him out for Permaul? How do you leave Rampaul out? How do you leave Dwayne Bravo for Sammy in a test? By Sammy batting #8 where he scored a total of 25 runs in four innings, he confirmed that he is not a batter. Then is he a bowler? In two tests where India Scored 400 in each game, Sammy bowled no more than 21 overs without taking a wicket. So he is not a bowler and not a batsman, Why put him on the team to even captain? They should have made Dwayne captain of the test team and Sammy captain of the ODI’s/ T20’S.
I think Shillingford and Narine should have played also. Sammy I suspect will soon be dropped unless he starts delivering in a huge way.
Jokers allu man be boy i tired see man lose eh
I just read that a severe cyclonic storm “Helen”,looms over the horizon in India.
This could well be the only help that the Windies get in India.
LET’S WAIT AND SEE!
Historically speaking it is always a tough trip for the visiting team to the Indian subcontinent. However, we can fairly say that our guys have under performed thus far with both bat and ball. Let us hope that they can put it together for the remaining two One Day Internationals and close out this tour on a positive note. Let’s go Windies.
It is really pathetic and shameful to many West Indians like myself, who can remember the glory days of West Indies cricket, and to see the state that the sport has deteriorated in the region. I STILL CANNOT POINT A FINGER at any one single problem plaguing the sport in the region. We don’t play enough domestic cricket for sure, the players lack the discipline and commitment for sure, there is the captaincy issue for sure, insularity in the region still reign supreme,etc, etc, etc,.I can clearly see a serious weakness in all the players in playing good spin bowling. The footwork is just not there. India has seen it, and it’s going to be almost impossible for them (The windies) to regroup and win the ODI SERIES.
On the captaincy issue, I tend to agree that Sammy is underperforming in TESTS FOR SURE, and should be replaced as captain. But is Bravo any better? How committed are players like Chris Gayle to the sport? Well when Chanders leave soon, unless we start making radical changes to the team, and lose with players who like the sport, we will continue to languish at the bottom of world cricket for the unforeseeable future…MY GREATEST FEAR IS THAT OUR STATUS AS A TEST PLAYING UNIT COULD EVEN BE LOST, IF THESE STRINGS OF POOR PERFORMANCES CONTINUE.
These batsmen should have a heavy doze of Shillingford’s bowling in the nets.Howevers Shilly is one man and he cannot do it all. He is a top quality spinner,and if you can play him well, you can survive against top spin bowling. No matter what the umpires in India said recently, THE INDIANS WERE SHOCKED TO SEE HOW SHILLY CAN DISMISS THEM CHEAPLY ON THEIR OWN HOME SOIL. It was a blow to their HUGE EGO!!!!
I STILL WISH MY WEST INDIES TEAM WELL!!!!
RALLY ROUND THE WEST INDIES
NOW AND FOREVER MORE!
When is Chris Gayle ever a factor in any game West Indies is playing.. Not sure why he is still on the team….Shame
@ I have been saying and echoing this sentiment about Gayle for a few years now. Gayle is a waste of time, and the selectors need to pack him. SEND HIM TO THE IPL. That’s where he belongs.