When you field like that no total is good enough – one can certainly have an idea when a captain of any team says such a statement.
In the second T20I, India were outplayed by West Indies. First, the Caribbean side restricted the Men in Blue at 170, and then they chased down the target with nine balls to spare. Indian fielders repeated the similar mistakes they committed in the first T20I. The slow pitch did play its part, and Indian batters struggle to find the deliveries in the middle.
However, when Windies were batting, it didn’t look like there was any slowness; such was the display of their attacking batting.
The only positive for India came in the form of Shivam Dube.
Dube, who was sent ahead of Kohli, played a vital knock. The experiment that the skipper tried did work, and he was impressed with the youngster as he praised his innings in the post-match interview.
“We were really good for the first 16 overs. From there on, I think you expect to get about 40-45 runs in the last four overs and not 30. I think we lacked there a little bit, so we have to focus on that more. I think Shivam’s knock is what propelled us towards 170 because the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat so well in the first half. To be honest, West Indies assessed the pitch really nicely, and they bowled enough cutters and changes of pace to not let us get any momentum,” said Kohli.
The final game of the series will take place at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Windies players like Lendl Simmons, and skipper Kieron Pollard knows this ground quite better as the former has been a part of Mumbai Indians (MI) while the latter still plays for MI.
India would look to improve their bowling and fielding while they need to focus on the batting as well. The batting in the second T20I looked below par, and the Men in Blue needs to pull up their socks as the T20 World Cup isn’t far away.
West Indies, on the other hand, made a phenomenal comeback as they improved their bowling; however, the discipline is the area where they need to enhance their game in the upcoming T20I.
There is every chance that the visitors will go for an unchanged side in the final T20I, whereas the hosts might want to add sharpness in the bowling, and one could see the inclusion of Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav.
Probable XI (West Indies): Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder, Khary Pierre, Hayden Walsh, Sheldon Cottrell, Kesrick Williams.
Probable XI (India): Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal.
