McCoy is the POTM:
“I want to thank God,” he says. “I’m doing this for my mom, she is home sick. This is motivating me to be a better player. Thankful for it. (Rohit wicket) It put a lot of pressure on their batters. I always look for wickets in the powerplay because that stops batsmen from scoring runs in the powerplay. (Reason for success) Went in with a clear mind. Was overthinking in the previous game. (His role – powerplay and back end) It gives me a lot of challenges and experience. Helps groom me as a player.”
Rohit Sharma:
“It was not enough runs on the board for us. We didn’t bat well. Pitch was playing quite nicely but we didn’t apply ourselves. But that can happen. I have said again and again that when you are trying something as a batting group, it won’t work out always. We will try to see our mistakes and look to correct them. (20th over from Avesh) It’s all about giving opportunity. We know Bhuvneshwar, and what he brings to the table, but if you don’t give the opportunity to Avesh or Arshdeep you will never find out what it means to bowl at the death for India. They have done it in the IPL.
Just one game, those guys don’t need to panic. They need backing and opportunity. (Fighting effort) Proud of the team. When you are defending a target like that, it can end in 13-14 overs or you try to drag it to the last over. Guys kept fighting, it was important to take wickets. The planning we did, the guys came and executed. Happy with bowlers, but there are certain things in the batting we need to look at. I will, again and again, say that we will continue to bat in this fashion because we want to achieve something. The one-off result, shouldn’t panic. After one loss we won’t change things around.”
Nicholas Pooran:
“I can finally breathe now. It has been a tough summer, we have lost a couple of close games. Happy to cross the line. The bowlers were fantastic. Obed, McCoy. They used the pitch, the conditions, and the wind well. The batters got us off to a good start, and even though we stumbled, a win is a win in the end. I believe that in T20 cricket our better batters have to bat more. It didn’t work out for myself and Hetmyer today, but we want to continue taking responsibility. King batted really well, thought he should win the game for us, but he will learn from this. Thomas returned from an injury and came trumps in his home ground. McCoy is a bit of a freak, and we need to deal with him, but today he was excellent. Was smart bowling to Dinesh Karthik, lovely to have him in the team. Good to have the left-arm option as well.”
India vs West Indies 2nd T20I Highlights today, Monday 1-8-2022. 2nd T20I, India tour of West Indies from Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts.
Form guide
(Last five matches, most recent first)
West Indies: LWWLL
India: WLWWW
Toss: West Indies, elected to field first.
Pooran: “New conditions here, wicket looks nice. Based on our experience here, better to chase in day games. As a group, we’ve been batting well, but just wasn’t in that game. Want to be confident and express ourselves. (Spin threat from India) Different conditions. As a batting unit, we spoke about forgetting the last game’s batting. Paul, Brooks out. King and Thomas in.”
Rohit: “Quite pleasing from a team’s perspective – the first T20I. It wasn’t the easiest pitch but we stuck to our plan there. We know how dangerous they can be. Today is another opportunity for us. Looking to repeat the same, how we can improve – there are areas. (Trying new openers and No. 3) We want the guys to be able to bat anywhere, that is one thought. We don’t want guys batting in specific positions – T20 is a different format, and guys should be flexible.
At the same time, we want to keep in mind certain guys have specific roles and need to bat at specific positions. (Three spinners last game) Though we read the pitch well. I thought as a team we made the right call with three spinners. On this ground, the dimensions are vastly different, and with the crosswind, we have an extra seamer. Bishnoi misses out, and Avesh comes in. Unfortunately, he has to miss out but we want to be clear about what we want to do as a team. The team comes first. A lot of guys are here, performing well, but we are trying what to do as a team to play well.”
India team: Rohit, Suryakumar, Shreyas, Pant, Hardik, Jadeja, Karthik, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Avesh, Arshdeep.
West Indies team: Mayers, King, Pooran, Hetmyer, Powell, Holder, Odean, Thomas, Hosein, Joseph, McCoy.
Head to Head In T20I’s: 21
India Won: 14
West Indies Won: 6
Match Timings: 17:30 GMT | 13:30 Local
Umpires – Gregory Brathwaite, Leslie Reifer
TV Umpires – Patrick Gustard
Match Referee – Richie Richardson
Reserve Umpire – Nigel Duguid
Match number – T20I no. 1718
