NEWS
Follow UsNot too long ago, West Indies were eyeing a historic series win over India having gone 2-0 up after two matches, but the hosts have thrown away their advantage and, as a result, on Sunday, will be entering the deciding contest of the five-match series with no momentum whatsoever.
West Indies, across the past two games, have been poor on all fronts but at the post-match presentation on Saturday, skipper Rovman Powell chose to specifically point out his sides woes against spin in the middle-overs.
Across the first two matches, the hosts lost a solitary wicket against spin in the 7-15 phase but this figure has risen to 8 wickets in matches three and four. On Saturday, the hosts slipped from 54/1 to 123/7 and all but one wicket in the said collapse fell to spin, with the wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav once again wreaking havoc.
Powell reckoned that, if his side are to win the decider, they’d have to fare far better against spin.
“From the start of the series, we always knew it's gonna come down to how we bat against spin. We didn't bat well in the middle overs. If we can improve against spin, then we'll do well,” Powell said.
The Windies skipper asserted that, on the day, his side were at least 10-15 runs short. The 30-year-old was also critical of his bowlers for not sticking to plans.
“It's a pretty good batting surface. We were maybe 10-15 runs short. Having said that, Hetmyer and Hope played well. There's quality bowling in our unit. We didn't stick to our plans, you'll always find under pressure against quality batters.”
Having lost consecutive matches, the Windies will have to regroup quickly if they are to have a chance of winning the series, but despite India set to enter Sunday’s clash as heavy favorites, Powell insisted that he’ll always back his side to topple their opponents in a ‘final’.
“It's 2-2, both teams have played well to reach where they are. Tomorrow is the final and in a final, I'd back West Indies.”
