New Delhi:
West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor feels that the loss to India in their World Twenty20 warm-up fixture here has given his team a reality check ahead of the tournament-proper which gets underway from March 15.
Chasing 186, the Windies folded for 140 in 19.2 overs. Barring the brief opening onslaught by Chris Gayle (20 from 13 balls), the Caribbeans’ looked ordinary and terribly short of match practice losing wickets in a heap to go down by 45 runs.
“This was a fantastic experience for us and there’s a lot to take from this game. Wickets kept falling in a cluster, that’s something we can improve on. There’s always room for improvement,” Taylor said at the post-match news conference yesterday.
“We have been playing together for the last two weeks. We’re a happy bunch together, we’re just sharing each others’ experience. We have to get to drawing board.”
A bitter feud with the Cricket Board over payments marred the West Indies’ preparations and that was evident in last night’s game, exploited well by Indian spinners Pawan Negi (2/15) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/26).
Pacer Mohammed Shami too returned to action after a prolonged injury layoff taking 2/30, while Hardik Pandya claimed two to bundle the Windies out.
“We comprise of a lot of International cricketers accustomed to play in the conditions. Hopefully we’ll come good soon,” he said.
Taylor and spinner Sulieman Benn scalped two each for the West Indies and the former said their bowling effort was decent as it managed to restrict India for under 200.
“We did a pretty good job overall from bowling point of view. It was a classing batting wicket. To restrict them under 200 was a good effort.”
