Holder wants batsmen to be more responsible as ODI commences at Providence today

Aug 08, 2019 Sports

By Zaheer Mohamed

Following their drubbing in theT20 series, the West Indies will look to rebound in the One Day tournament with a positive result at Providence today.

Rishabh Pant (left) interacts with some West Indian players following the T20 series.

Rohit Sharma has been in fine form for India

Chris Gayle is10 runs away from eclipsing Brian Lara’s tally of 10,405 ODI runs.

The players had enough time to put the world cup debacle behind them and they now look forward to a new beginning with positive ideas.
Usually the team that executes better on the day comes out on top and West Indies Captain Jason Holder wants his batsmen to be more responsible. Speaking with the media prior to a practice session at Providence yesterday, Holder said it is one of the areas they want to correct. “We had quite a bit of time to sit back and think of how the world cup went, our batting let us down, the guys batting deep and taking the responsibility, that is definitely one of the areas we want to correct. We had a few bright sparks in the bowling department, but we weren’t as consistent. We need to captialise and execute, put ourselves in the right situation,” he added.
Holder stated that the players are fresh and they come with different ideas as to where they can improve so obviously they can get better. “I think it’s a matter for every individual to play their role, understand what is expected of them and execute which is important.”
Chris Gayle is 10 runs away from eclipsing Brian Lara Brian Lara’s tally of 10,405 ODI runs, the most by a West Indies batsman, and Holder said his presence is always felt.
“Gayle has done well over the years, it’s great to have him in the squad, he brings a lot to team his presence is always felt when he steps on to the cricket field or in the dressing room.”
Holder expects a good pitch, stating that they had some high scoring encounters in their last few games here.
He pointed out that they need to take wickets with the new ball in order to restrict India’s batting line up. “The way cricket is going we need to take wickets, we have been outstanding with the new ball in the last two years, so we need to take early wickets and get into India’s middle order.
It’s a good batting line up, but it not impossible to dislodge, it’s just a matter for us to remain discipline with the new ball and take it from there.”
Keemo Paul had a hit on his left ankle in the T20 but Holder said he should be ok for the game.
India defeated the West Indies 3-1 in their last two series, but the home side has shown much improvement, drawing the recent series against England in the Caribbean.
Rishabh Pant top scored in the third T20 on Tuesday with an unbeaten 65 and Captain Virat Kohli said they are looking at Rishabh as the future.
Speaking with the media after the T20 series win, Kohli said the youngster needed after two poor outings on the bounce was one innings to settle in. The message was for him to finish the game; there’s a lot of confidence that comes with hitting the winning runs and walking off the field with bat raised, and Pant needed to experience that, added Kohli.
“For the first two games he was disappointed, he made sure he applied himself today and backed himself to hit the big shots when required and really played with the tempo of the innings.”
“He’s got a lot of skill and talent, but it’s about winning and finishing games like these and gaining confidence. It’s about giving him a bit more space to ease himself into international cricket and not putting too much pressure because of the way he’s played in the IPL.”
“At the international level, you need to tackle pressure differently and play yourself into the whole set-up. He has come a long way since he started. If he plays like this regularly, we will see his potential shine for India.”
Kohli stated that the priority is to make sure India play consistent cricket, with young players like Pant and Rahul Chahar helping to strengthen the team’s resources.
“I think the priority is to keep Indian cricket at the top, go out there and win games,” Kohli said.
Kuldeep Yadav has taken 93 wickets in 51 ODIs, which leaves him four matches to beat Mohammed Shami and become the fastest from India to hundred ODI wickets.
Following the T20 series, Kieron Pollard who got a half century for the West Indies said he was pleased with his performance but admitted it wasn’t good enough to get his team over the line. “Having said that you always want to come and try to do your best and at this time it wasn’t different.”
Rotating the strike seems a bit of a problem in the middle order, but Pollard said it’s a work in progress. “It was a consorted effort; we have to work with your strengths and try to improve on our weakness. It’s not going to happen overnight, we don’t want to take away our natural instinct of hitting the boundaries. Sometimes things don’t work as planned but you have to keep working hard.” Pollard added that he always gives his best and share his experience with the younger players.
Teams; West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, John Campbell, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Keemo Paul, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell.
India; Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.