PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Head coach Stuart Law has rued the tame bowling effort, which paved the way for West Indies’ 105-run defeat to India in the second One-Day International on Sunday and says the Caribbean side is lacking the cutting edge.
Opting to bowl first in a contest reduced to 43 overs following a two-hour delayed start due to rain at Queen’s Park Oval, the Windies watched as the visitors piled up 310 for five with opener Ajinkya Rahane top-scoring with 103.
Captain Virat Kohli struck an imperious 66-ball 87 while left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan chimed in with 63.
“We didn’t bowl anywhere near as well as we could’ve done and that’s probably the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here so you can live with that to a certain extent,” Law told reporters following the defeat.
“But you’ve got to be better than that with the ball. The way we started, the way we set the tone for our innings wasn’t how we wanted to do it and I think at times our plans didn’t quite work out.”
Opener Shai Hope’s classy 81 stood out in the Windies reply but they never quite recovered from a position of four for two in the third over, to end on 205 for six off their allotted overs. Law, in his fourth series with the Caribbean side after taking over earlier this year, said the experience gained in the defeat would be beneficial to the young team.
“Some of our boys haven’t played a lot of international cricket so to get some time in the middle against some quality bowlers is good for their confidence,” the Australian pointed out. “When we batted I thought Shai Hope played extremely well.”
With the gulf between the two sides evident in the encounter, Law said the Windies were aware of the odds against them up against a powerful India side.
However, he argued that West Indies still possessed enough ability to challenge the Indians, especially against the backdrop of their encouraging performances against Pakistan recently. “We’ve got to understand that India are number three in the world for a reason and they’ve been hovering around that top three for quite a while now.,” Law explained.
“They’ve got some of the best players, if not the best players in the world up there so we know that we’ve got to play really well and compete really hard to get anything out of these games but there is no reason why we can’t.
“We pushed Pakistan all the way when they were out here recently. We beat them chasing down 308 in the first ODI and in the last two we nearly got over the line as well so those performances are in us.
“We’re lacking a little bit of something, a little bit of edge with our bowling and with our batting we are not quite getting off to good starts consistently.”
