As West Indies approach the first of their string of virtual knock-outs in Group 1 of the T20 World Cup 2021, middle-order batter Nicholas Pooran said there is still no shortage of belief in his team’s camp and that they can still be “successful” in the tournament.
Starting from Friday’s game against Bangladesh in Sharjah, West Indies need to win all of their remaining matches by a hefty margin to make the semis. A loss to the Bangla Tigers will end the defending champions’ title dream, as they have already tasted defeats to England and South Africa.
“It’s a do-or-die game for us. And we believe that we’re going to be successful tomorrow.
And again, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to perform our roles. Once we do that, then everything can take care of itself.”
“I definitely think it’s a good opportunity for us to bounce back.”
Pooran was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Pooran also emphasized the need to avoid extra attention on the short boundary dimensions in Sharjah since their aggressive batting unit will still have to contend with a dry pitch in the afternoon against Bangladesh spinners who are just ripe for exploiting such conditions.
Thus, the left-hand batter added that his team could only finalise a game plan after properly assessing the track and not be rigid in their approach.
This sense of rigidity has cost Windies in the previous two matches. Playing in Dubai, the Calypso Kings were bundled out for just 55 versus the Englishmen and scored well below par against the Proteas as well.
With those losses, West Indies are not just placed bottom of Group 1 of the Super 12 stage but also have a negative net run rate of -2.55. Heavy defeats to England and South Africa have left West Indies needing to win and win big in the rest of their campaign.
Before the Bangladesh fixture, West Indies have had another forced change in their squad, losing pacer Obed McCoy to a leg injury. Allrounder Jason Holder has come in as a replacement.
