“This is probably why they lost in the qualifiers” - Wasim Jaffer analyzes West Indies’ batting capitulation in Barbados
Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer opined that West Indies’ batting collapse in the first ODI in Barbados against India is a good indicator of why they didn’t qualify for the 2023 World Cup. Jaffer stated that Windies batters just did not turn up on the day and put up a highly disappointing effort.
India beat West Indies by five wickets in the opening one-dayer at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Thursday, July 27. Put into bat after losing the toss, the Men in Maroon crumbled to 114 all-out in 23 overs as Kuldeep Yadav claimed 4/6 and Ravindra Jadeja 3/37.
The Men in Blue chased down the target in 22.5 overs thanks to Ishan Kishan's half-century.
During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Wasim Jaffer claimed that the Windies’ insipid batting explains why they haven’t qualified for the ODI World Cup for the first time in history.
“They didn’t [show up] and that’s the disappointing bit. Their woes in this format and in general continue. I thought the pitch wasn’t great, it had a little bit of up and down pace. It had a little bit of help for spinners. But again, not batting 50 overs, not getting to a decent score - probably 210-220 would have been a fighting score on this [surface]. They will be disappointed with this show,” Jaffer opined.
“This is probably the reason why they lost in the qualifiers to teams which are not obviously as great as what West Indies used to be. You have got to give credit to the other teams who have played well against them. But, they didn’t show up today. The quality of the batting and the application needed against a decent bowling attack - they just didn’t turn up, other than Shai Hope,” the 45-year-old went on to add.
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Windies skipper Shai Hope top-scored for his team with 43 off 45 balls. Alick Athanaze’s 22 was the next best score in the innings.
“We didn't bat well” - West Indies skipper Shai Hope
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, West Indies captain Shai Hope was at loss of words to describe the lethargic batting effort. He did express disappointment at the kind of surface that was used, but conceded that the team were poor with the bat. Hope said:
“Not too many words come to mind. We didn't play the way we needed to; we need to find ways to score on difficult pitches like this. I'm not making excuses but anyone watching cricket can see what is happening here. The Indian bowlers did well on this surface, but we didn't bat well.”
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The second India-West Indies ODI will also be played in Barbados on Saturday, July 29.