West Indies middle order need to show fight, grit: Floyd Reifer

West Indies were putting up a good fight in the second ODI against India at the Queens Park Oval in Port of Spain on Sunday. Evin Lewis slammed his sixth fifty and Nicholas Pooran was finding the boundary on a regular basis as West Indies stayed ahead of the DLS par score after the match was reduced to 46 overs with the Windies chasing a revised target of 270. However, Although Lewis fell for 65, Pooran was still batting well. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's two wickets in the 35th over and a sensational collapse of four wickets for four runs saw West Indies losing by 59 runs. 

Speaking after the end of the match, West Indies coach Floyd Reifer said the West Indies middle order needed to show grit and fight in order to win matches on a consistent basis.

"We got to continue to learn from this experience. Guys in the middle order, we got to show more fight, a bit more grit. More determination to build those longer partnership. Again we were in front today and then we found a way to give away our wickets, so it's just a matter of us now to learn from our mistakes, continue to learn from our mistakes and try to dig deeper," Reifer remarked.

Reifer said the side was in the rebuilding process and along the path, there will be plenty of bumps. "It's not an uphill task (to win), like I said in the past interviews, we are rebuilding, we are building our side again. And when you are building a side, you get speed bumps along the way. It's how you bounce back from them. Our meeting will be how we assess today and things we need to do better going the next game," Reifer said. 

West Indies had some things to smile for as Chris Gayle broke Brian Lara's record of runs in ODIs to becoming the leading run-getter for West Indies in ODIs. In the same game, Gayle had become the first West Indies player to play 300 ODIs. Reifer hailed Gayle's contribution. 

"300 game for a West Indian, obviously he is the first to have done it. It is a great achievement I feel honoured to be here working with him. I have played with and against him and now I am coaching so it was great to see his 300th game," Reifer said.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Chris Gayle became the first Windes player to play 300 ODIs.
• Gayle overtook Brian Lara's tally of runs in ODIs.
• India has taken an unassailable 1-0 lead in three-match series.