ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Captain Kieron Pollard believes the battle between West Indies power beaters and Sri Lankan spinners will define the rest of the Twenty20 International series, as the home team try to wrap up a series win by winning a second match today.
West Indies won the inaugural T20 International here on Wednesday by four wickets but not before leg spinner Akila Dananjaya grabbed a hat-trick to turn the running kick on its head.
And with another leg-spinner Hasaranga de Silva also creating problems with a three-wicket haul, Pollard said there would be talks at the West Indies camp about how best to combat the threat.
“We will go back and look at how the redundancies were for some individuals,” explained Pollard.
“And if you put it in cricket, you want your right-handers facing the spinners and you want your left-backs in the middle – we have two strong left-backs in the middle Chris (Gayle) and (Nicholas) Pooran – also facing the leg spinners.
“We know what the challenge will be throughout the whole series so it’s just a matter of trying to fight that and see if we can keep on top.”
Pollard – who hit a record equal to six sixes in the sixth over – scored on the top with an 11-ball 28, Jason Holder struck 29 not out while openers Evin Lewis (28) and Lendl Simmons (26) pressed in at the top in a 52-run stand.
However, left-handers Gayle and Pooran, along with rounder Fabian Allen, ‘ducked’ the first ball, creating disruption in the pursuit of the Windies 132, before the Holder saw them home.
Pollard said that in fast turnovers between the second game, there would not be enough time to make adjustments in practice sessions.
“It’s just going to be conversations. There’s not a lot of exercise you can really do and we would have put in the exercise for a couple of days leading into the tournament, ”the all-rounder noted.