West Indies coach Phil Simmons said the team would be dependent on captain Kieron Pollard in the series-deciding third T20 International against India as his understanding of the pitch will be important due to his IPL experience will be important for the bowlers. Kieron Pollard has played a lot of games at the Wankhede Stadium for the Mumbai Indians.
“(Kieron) Pollard has played a lot at this venue, the others have not played that much. I think the experience which they have got from here is invaluable and especially the captain (Pollard), as he has been here for 10 years,” Simmons said in the pre-match press conference. “He knows things inside out and that will definitely help our bowlers mainly, there are a few youngsters in this format. It will definitely help.”
“You will not win games if you drop them. The players will have to tell you if it is the lights or whether it is their execution or their position,” he said. “…I do not like excuses. I think if you drop a catch it is your fault. You can blame the lights but I think we just have to keep working hard so we do not drop any,” he added.
Kieron Pollard has earlier replaced Jason Holder as the captain of the ODI side and Carlos Brathwaite to become captain of the T20 side and Simmons said he has been doing pretty well as the captain.
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“I didn’t have Jason (Holder) a lot in the ODIs when I was there (as a coach) before. Kieron (Pollard) is proactive with all the players. He lets them know exactly what he wants from them. He’s been good in the sense that they know that he’ll give everything for the team,” Simmons said.
The coach praised Sheldon Cottrell’s performance but advised him to control the ball when he swings it.
“He knows his game, exactly what he can do. He swung the ball a lot in Trivandrum, but didn’t control it. So, let’s hope he controls it in this game. But he’s been a valuable asset for this team,” said the head coach. “I think it (the series against Afghanistan) would help because we’ve been here for a long time. We tried very hard to keep the (limited overs) guys here even though there was a Test match on.”
West Indies had defeated India in the 2016 ICC World T20 semi-final but this wouldn’t e easy, thinks the coach.
“A lot has happened since then. But, I think we’re confident because of the way we’ve played in the two games here. Although we lost the first one, we won the second one. The way we prepared, the way we’ve been playing, that gives me and players confidence,” he noted. India has been vulnerable while defending totals but Simmons said the teams have to be prepared for any situation. “I think you have got to be prepared at the beginning for doing either one of them. If you win the toss you are prepared to do good, whichever one we decide to do tomorrow (match-day). You can lose the toss. I don’t worry about the toss too much,” he said.
