NEWS
Follow UsIndia skipper Hardik Pandya, in the aftermath of his side’s defeat in the 2nd T20I against West Indies in Guyana, lamented the team’s showing with the bat as for a second game running, the Men in Blue faltered with the bat to slip to a rather disappointing defeat.
On the day, India won the toss and opted to bat but only managed to post 152, which was eventually chased down by the hosts with seven balls to spare. As was the case in the first T20I in Tarouba, Tilak Varma (51) was the only batter that passed 35, with three of the top five batters — Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson — falling for single-digit scores.
Having gone 0-2 down in the series due to Sunday’s result, Pandya was critical of the batters in the post-match presentation.
“If am being honest that was a not a pleasing batting performance, we could have batted better,” Pandya said.
“The wickets were falling and the track was on the slower side. We were not good enough to get to 160+.”
In the first T20I in Tarouba, The Men in Blue collapsed spectacularly while chasing 150 and what contributed to the same was the long tail, with No.8 to No.11 all being specialist bowlers. Like India, Windies suffered a collapse during their chase in the second T20I on Sunday but, in stark contrast, they got over the line thanks to the muscle they possessed down the order, with Akeal Hossein (16*) and Alzarri Joseph (10*) chipping in with crucial runs.
But when asked whether India are being hurt by the presence of a long tail, Pandya deflected the blame on to the batters, and asserted that when a side goes in with a bowling-heavy XI, the onus is on the specialist batters to deliver the goods.
“The current combination that we have means we have to play with seven batters. Bowlers win you games. We have to figure out how we get batting strength from No. 8, 9, 10. Batters need to take more responsibility,” the team India skipper said.
The lone batter that stepped up for India in the second T20I was 20-year-old Tilak Varma, who became the second-youngest Indian player to register a fifty in T20I cricket. For the second match running Tilak walked into bat under pressure, but the youngster played his natural game and rattled the Windies with his strokemaking.
Pandya lavished praise on Tilak and said that the left-handedness he brings to the table is a boon for the side.
“The way he has been batting, that is something we are looking at. A left-hander at No.4 gives us a right-left combination throughout. The youngsters are coming with confidence and fearlessness,” the skipper said of Tilak.
0-2 down, awaiting India are three do-or-die matches. The first of them will be played at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday (August 8th).
