Their winning streak ended by a nine-wicket drubbing against South Africa, the West Indies are now pondering on how to regroup ahead of the winner-takes-all match against India in Kolkata on Sunday.
With the Proteas safely through to the last-four stage, the game at the Eden Gardens has taken the proportions of a virtual quarterfinal and West Indies skipper Shai Hope believes that’s how it’s meant to be.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a difficult road. I would say this is how it’s supposed to be because when you come into crunch time in a tournament, every opposition or every game you play now is supposed to be a challenge,” Hope was quoted as saying after Thursday’s defeat in Ahmedabad.
“This is the reason it’s the Super Eights, and then if you get to the semis and the finals, there is a reason why because they are the best teams in the latter stages of the tournament,”
“I wouldn’t say it’s anything to jump out the boat but we have to ensure that we play our better cricket now. We see a situation that we could face in the next couple of days, so we have to make sure we turn things around quickly and get a good result against India.”
Meanwhile, veteran Caribbean commentator and administrator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira has said that the West Indies need to improve their bowling to have any chance against the co-hosts.
“The bowling was ragged and [head coach] Daren Sammy and company will have to look at how they can improve this bowling,” Perreira told the Jamaica Observer.
Looking back at the game against South Africa, he said that it seemed only a matter of time once Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock got amongst the West Indies bowlers. Speedster Shamar Joseph was one of the trump cards for the team, but his two overs went for 24 runs.
“They were ragged. The big disappointment was maybe that of Joseph and they need to decide whether they’ll carry him because we were hoping he would come and bowl at that length and the occasional yorker. But that’s not happening,” the Guyanese Perreira, an iconic voice in Caribbean sport who has covered over 145 Tests and 300 ODIs besides several other landmark events, said.
Jayden Seales is another pace bowling option in the squad, but hasn’t been in good form of late.
“Now will they pluck Seales off the reserves bench? He hasn’t done well since New Zealand, in the shorter format, but will they try Seales, who is eager to play and chomping at the bit, as they say? Whether that will help, I don’t know,” he said.
The pitch on offer for the India game would influence many of the decisions of the West Indies team management.
“Joseph didn’t look the part. Will he and Hosein come back, and [Gudakesh] Motie, finding a combination once more? A lot will depend on the conditions for the game against India — whether it will be a spinning track or the track might have a little bit of bounce,” Perreira added.
