West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran feels his team’s bowlers could not hold their nerves in the last couple of overs against India in the second ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad. The visitors needed 64 runs off the last seven overs with five wickets in hand while chasing 312 runs but they were able to get over the line by two wickets in the end.
Deepak Hooda and Shardul Thakur were then dismissed in quick succession but Axar Patel was able to hit the ground running. The Windies’ bowlers could not put the brakes on the scoring rate at the fag end of the innings as Patel scored a match-winning knock of 64 runs off just 35 balls.
The left-hander scored three fours and five sixes in his fine knock to get the team over the line by two wickets and take an assailable lead of 2-0 in the series.
The 46th over bowled by Alzarri Joseph was taken for 16 runs and it got India back into the contest. In fact, West Indies were ahead in the second innings but Axar Patel played a brilliant knock to deliver the goods for the Shikhar Dhawan-led team.
Pooran feels one wicket could have made a lot of difference but heaped praise on the Indian all-rounder. However, the WI captain was pleased with the batting effort and showered praise on Shai Hope, who scored a fine knock of 115 runs in his 100th ODI match to help his team post a daunting score of 311 runs.
Nicholas Pooran said in the post-match presentation, “Definitely, last couple of overs we didn’t hold our nerves. Last 6 overs, we lost the game. We felt a spinner was easier to hit. We just needed one wicket to seal the game but Axar played really well. His (Hope’s) 100th ODI, he was exceptional to get a hundred. We did an exceptional job with the batting group. We tried to compete really hard. We want to win really bad.”
There is no doubt that the West Indies would have been disappointed with the results of these two ODIs as they were in the game till the end. India had won the first game by three runs while they registered a two-wicket victory in the second game. The hosts failed to add the finishing touches in both of these games and it led to their downfall.
India and West Indies will take on each other in the third ODI on Wednesday at the same venue of Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
