Jamaica: Evin Lewis’ fantastic century helped West Indies beat India by nine wickets in the T20I match played at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica on Sunday. Blaming missed chances both during their batting and fielding for the loss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that if a team didn’t grab their chances, they didn’t deserve to win.
“Even in the first innings, we could have added 25-30 extra. We were on course for 230. And in the field as well, we dropped a few chances and if you don't grab them you don't deserve to win,” Virat Kohli said.
“If you give a good start up the order, one batsman has to bat through. I think Dinesh was good, but we needed someone to get 80-90 which a team need in T20 cricket, I think. Then we didn't start well with the ball and didn't field well either. All these games are good feeders of how guys react to situations. West Indies have a good T20 team. They have carried on with the same team for a couple of years. And in experimental stage, we'd have up and downs. But we need to keep going. One game in the ODis we lost, we won three convincingly. T20s is anyone's game, and one game doesn't make a series according to me. Overall, we enjoyed the tour.” Said Kohli.
Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite said, “I am very happy. Yesterday we asked for the batters to go out and express themselves. I gave them the captain's incentive, whoever goes and gets a fifty gets half my match fee. We wanted to put smiles on the faces of the fans and that's what we come back to do.”
“We wanted to wrestle the game back against them. We've seen the IPL, we know how Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls at the death and we wanted to make him bowl more in the first few overs and that's a box ticked. Then Evin just played magnificently. He just played on, played through so big kudos to him. It was a good score on the board, but we always knew we could get it. Kestick Williams has produced a fantastic performance, carries it on from Pakistan to Afghanistan and here. His figures might not reflect it, but he got Kohli out, the direct hit, and in the sixth over he had two new batsmen in and that certainly helped.” Added Brathwaite.
Evin Lewis, who was Man of the Match, said, “It was a good game. Quality bowlers, and once you get a hundred against a team like India, it's a good hundred. Five games in a row, in the ODIs, I didn't do well. But I kept believing in my ability and today I came out trumps. Chris going after the bowling makes it easier for me to score, so I'm thankful to bat with him and I hope I can keep doing my best for the West Indies.”
