West Indies head coach Phil Simmons reckons that Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj as the deciding factors as India whitewashed the hosts in the three-match ODI series. Gill, who unfortunately was stranded at 98 when rain forced an early end to India’s innings in the third ODI on Wednesday, was the highest run-scorer of the series with a tally of 205 runs. Siraj on the other hand picked up four wickets in the series but was instrumental in closing the first ODI by bowling a brilliant last over and he also claimed two wickets in his first over in the third ODI.
During the post-match press conference, Phil Simmons said, “One thing? there are two. Batting of Shubman Gill and the bowling of Mohammed Siraj. Siraj was excellent in closing out the first game in the last over. He was good with the new ball today. Shardul Thakur was also good. I think their bowling stood out more than ours.”
Shubman Gill amassed 98 runs in as many deliveries with seven fours and two sixes when the skies opened up for the second time forcing the umpires to put an end to India’s innings in 36 overs. West Indies were asked to chase down a revised target of 257 in 35 overs but India bowled them out for 137 in 26 overs.
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Talking about the same, Phil Simmons said, “It (rain) did play a part but it was the same for both the teams. We can’t use that as an excuse that the rain disturbed us. I think we lost too many wickets in the chase. We were on target there with 10 overs left but we just lost too many wickets.”
West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran said that he is looking forward to the upcoming T20I series. During the post-match presentation, Pooran said, “We did a lot of right things in the first two games. I think we tried up our best, the boys performed well. But there were a lot of games in a short span of time. As a batting group, it was going to be a challenge with DLS coming into play. We did get some partnerships, but not as many as we wanted, that cost us the game.”
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He further explained, “We gained a lot in this series after coming from Guyana. The bowlers bowled well in the powerplay, they didn’t get wickets, but that’s fine. The guys are getting more confident with every game. Very excited with our T20 team, looking forward to the game on Friday.”
