Windies eager for another win

 CMC – West Indies captain Rovman Powell said he and his teammates are keen to “change the narrative” around the side at the moment, and the second Twenty20 International against India on Sunday in Guyana was a good place to start.

The Caribbean side take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series into the match at the Guyana National Stadium, after they won the first T20I by four runs on Thursday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad in a tense finish.

“I think it starts with personal pride,” Powell said during a news conference on the eve of the match. “Personal pride of wanting to win games for West Indies. Personal pride of wanting to change the narrative around West Indies cricket.

“Recently, I listened to two prime ministers talk about West Indies cricket – the Barbados prime minister and the Guyana prime minister – about how impactful West Indies cricket is on not just us as players, but the wider Caribbean.

“The guys are upbeat about our chances and being consistent. The guys are working hard, to be honest, behind the scenes to try to be consistent, but consistency will come over time, and it’s just for us as individuals to try to find our way in international cricket.”

Powell said he found that players were taking too long to find their feet on the international stage, and this has got to change quickly to enable his side to be far more competitive, especially against stronger sides such as India.

“I think, maybe, one of the reasons is that we have not spent enough time together as a team,” he said. “But spending a lot of time together as a team will be very difficult… because there are so many T20 leagues around the world, and it’s just not feasible for the board or me, as the captain, to ask players to miss the leagues, so that we can stay in the Caribbean and spend time together.

“It is something that is not feasible, but when we do get together, the little time that we have together, we have got to cherish it and see if we can mould together as one faster… But the guys are in a good frame of mind for this series. India is always a team that the guys want to play against, and want to do well against, so that in itself is a positive for us.”

Bowling appears to be the strength of both sides, but batting may very well unlock the outcome of this match and the third T20I to be played at the same venue on Tuesday because the pitch typically plays low and slow.

Powell said the surface looked like it could be better than strip they played on in the first match, but the proof of this will come on the day.

“If we can go 2-0 up, the pressure will totally be on India, and it will just be up to us to close out the series, but we are not looking too far ahead. This is a very important game, so hopefully we can do some good stuff.

“Complacency is the furthest thing from our minds. India is 1-0 down, and we expect them to come hard, but if we can find ourselves with a 2-0 lead, that will be very, very important.”

The last time West Indies beat India in successive T20Is was seven years ago when they followed up a seven-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian city of Mumbai with a one-run score at the Central Broward Regional Park in the United States four months later.

Two of the last five T20Is at the Guyana National Stadium were washed out, and the totals of the team batting first in the three completed matches were 146, 157, and 163, with the chasing team winning twice.

Squads:

WEST INDIES (from): Rovman Powell (captain), Kyle Mayers (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas.

INDIA (from): Hardik Pandya (captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Umran Malik.

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