West Indies out to avoid tour sweep
|| CF Correspondent ||
As the tour has come to a business end, West Indies eye to finish it off well by winning the third T20, which will not only give them the series but also help them to avoid a tour sweep.
West Indies were whitewashed in the two-match Test series after which they lost the ODI series by 2-1.
With the T20 series locked at 1-1, West Indies fast bowler Keemo Paul said they would give 110 percent to grab a victory in the series-deciding third game, which itself spoke a volume of their sheer determination.
“It’s been a tough series for us. We lost the ODI series before coming in the Twenty20 series,” Paul said on Friday before their practice session for the third and final T20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
“We still have lot of confidence. It’s also going there and executes there and wins the series as it is level 1-1 now. We definitely will out there tomorrow and definitely will give 110 per cent and look for a victory and look for a series win.”
West Indies batsmen simply couldn’t replicate their performance of the first game in the second match after their bowlers gave 20/30 runs extra to help Bangladesh compile a hefty 211-4.
Whatever the dew is in the ground, anything above 200 is always tough to chase in this format. Shai Hope once again gave West Indies a high-flying start but didn’t get enough support. The tourists needed their top order to get them within 80 runs of the target. But once they lost three quick wickets to Shakib, this was always going to be an uphill battle.
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite later admitted that “Didn’t bowl as well as we wanted. We could've been tighter with our plans, must give credit to Bangladesh. We didn't have the best day on the field. As a batting unit, we lost wickets at key intervals, would've had momentum if we hadn't lost wickets.”
Echoing the captain, Keemo Paul said that they need to co-operate the batsmen if they want to end the year on a high and give their countrymen a perfect Christmas Gift.
“I think we need to co-operate with the batsmen and we see they attack in the powerplay. So we have a plan for that now and will like to execute and probably it will work for us to win the game.”
