NZ v WI 2020: 'When we're bad, we go really bad' - WI skipper Kieron Pollard reflects on the 72-run loss
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard was expecting some mental toughness from his team after the five-wicket loss in the first T20I against New Zealand. Instead, West Indies slumped to yet another defeat in the second T20I by a huge margin of 72 runs.
New Zealand, on the back of a brilliant 46-ball century from Glenn Phillips, were able to post a mammoth total of 238-3 in their 20 overs. West Indies were never really in the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could only score 166-9.
After the match, Kieron Pollard rued the way his team leaked runs in the latter half of the innings. He expressed disappointment at his bowlers' inability to stop the carnage by the New Zealand batsmen.
Kieron Pollard said after the game:
"100 percent went in the opposite direction of what we wanted to plan and execute. When we're bad, we go really bad. We had them in their first 10 overs but between 10-15 overs, we let things slip."
Decision to bowl first didn't work: Kieron Pollard
Kieron Pollard revealed that West Indies wanted to bowl first in order to exploit some movement from the fresh pitch. However, the decision went against them as they were unable to contain the New Zealand batsmen, who were scoring runs at a brisk pace.
Kieron Pollard added that he ideally would have liked to restrict New Zealand to a total below 200. He said:
"Toss is 50-50 but we opted to bowl to see if the fast/swing bowlers would get any movement. That didn't work. Getting them down to 190-200 would have been okay but as I said, they got away from us from overs 10-15."
With this emphatic win, New Zealand have clinched the series 2-0 with one T20I still to play.
The final T20I will be also played at Mount Maunganui on November 30th. While New Zealand will look to complete a 3-0 whitewash, West Indies will be playing for pride.