West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite is bemoaning a lack of designated openers in the squad on the current tour of India in the wake of the makeshift top order failing to find form in the opening two games of the three-match T20 International series.
The Windies in the second match at the New Ekana International stadium made just 124 with Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer – neither of whom are regular T20I openers – making a combined 21 runs after facing just 22 balls.
A total that was marginally better than the 16 combined runs off 15 deliveries made by Hope and Dinesh Ramdin in the first game in Kolkata on Sunday.
Brathwaite speaking after the 71 run loss said the team is still trying to find its best opening combination.
“We didn’t come to the tour with an out-and-out opener, so we are still trying to find our best opening combination,” Brathwaite said. “There were a few theories in the first game and also this game, on how we wanted our batting order, for different reasons. Ultimately neither worked, because we failed to get a good start. But we’re working with the players we have on tour, and it’s difficult to choose the best batting pair, but we’re trying. Up until a theory works out, it will look bad and give the pundits something to say.”
Brathwaite, however, did praise left-arm spinner Fabian Allen, who conceded only 8.25 per over despite a difficult surface on offer for the spinners.
“Last game we bowled and fielded very well, but today I don’t think we fielded as well as we wanted to. I myself was disappointed with my bowling effort,” he said. “We let the team down with the ball, and chasing 195 was always going to be an uphill task, but there were a few positives.
“The way Fabian Allen bowled in the middle, and he kept the openers under wraps and eventually got Shikhar out. It is hard to look at the negatives sometimes, just need to take the small positives and go away with them.”
The Windies now travel to Chennai for the final game of the series on Sunday where they will be seeking to end the tour on a positive note.