Nic Pothas, the Windies fielding coach, said the Windies players were not just playing India, they were learning from their opponents.
Pothas has seen many Indian teams up front – he was the former head coach of Sri Lanka – and one feeling he has always come away with after playing India is the winning environment promoted in the team.
“When young guys come into this team, they get comfortable really quickly,” said Pothas in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, 31 October. “They get up to speed very quickly. Yes, they have the skill level to be able to do that, but that comes from coming into a winning environment where your senior players are your mentors.
“That’s the reason why they’re at the top of their game in all three formats and they will be for a long period of time. They’re a world-class team. I love the way they go about planning. I’ve got a good relationship with their coaching staff as well as some of their players. So I’m aware of how they go about planning and I love it.
“Their work on a day-to-day basis, how they plan into the future, and the standards that they expect of the team … this team is always going to look to improve. And it comes from Virat Kohli and from their coaching staff. Definitely, a role model type of leadership system. You’re always going to see people improve.”
Pothas admitted “fatigue is a possibility” for the loss, and pointed to someone like Jason Holder, the captain, who is involved in both Tests and ODIs.
“Jason is a world-class performer,” said Pothas. “We want to have him on the field every day for 365 days of the year – 24×7, if we could. [But] he’s a human being, not a robot. In India, England, Australia, you can rest players as you have real quality coming through behind them.
