Windies coach Stuart Law feels his side were running low on energy reserves after the outstanding performances in the second and third one-day internationals against India.
After putting up a stunning fightback against India in the second and third ODIs, the young Windies side slipped to massive defeats in the following two games, conceding the series 3-1 in the process.
A young Windies side were able to give India a run for their money in their own conditions spoke volumes of their skills. They managed a thrilling tie in a chase of 321 in the second match and then went on to win the third by 43 runs.
“In Pune and Vizag, we had great games of cricket. Those two games took a lot out of us and in the last two games, we had no petrol left in the tank,” he said.
“That is what we need to address. We have tried to address our fitness and strength areas but we still have a long way to go. Coming here and playing against one of the best teams in the world, it is about battling conditions. If you are not conditioned or not fit enough, you have to battle even harder as we found out in the last two games.”
“This team is learning all the time. There is no better team to watch (than India). It is not a skill thing. It is about choosing the right option at the right time. If we can do that as you saw in game two and game three, we can play very good cricket. It is just a matter of bracing through those situations.”
“We are still looking to fill holes. We were hopeful that we will leave India and Bangladesh knowing pretty much the squad that we are going to take to the World Cup, which would have been pretty much the same squad we were going to play against England in January and February. We still have to find a few players, so there are still opportunities for players to stake a claim,” said Law, who will leave the job with the Windies after the series in Bangladesh for a stint with Middlesex.
“They have a lot of skill, every single one of them. But it is temperament or making decision under pressure … once you walk out there, with 40,000 people screaming against one of the best teams playing cricket, pressure does funny things. It is about living it, it’s very easy to sit down and talk about it, you still don’t understand what that pressure is. You have to go out there and live it.”
