India vs West Indies 3rd T20I: 'We have to be mentally tough' - Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard-led West Indies faced yet another defeat against India in the third and final match in Kolkata. With this, they lost the series by 0-3 as well. Nicholas Pooran scored a quickfire 61 off 47 with 8 fours and a six. Alongside him, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd have also scored a few quickfire knocks and helped to score 167 but they eventually lost by 17 runs.

After the win, India speedster, Shardul Thakur said: “I think so. I have done it in the IPL for CSK for the last four years. Playing for India is a greater responsibility and five months before the World Cup, we all have to be ready as a bowler to bowl in the death. You have to be ready to use your variations, you are going to go for runs but one six or four shouldn’t play on your mind. We have to be mentally tough and think about the next delivery. You have to follow a process. The basic idea was to bowl wide yorkers from the end I was bowling, maybe slower yorkers or normal yorkers.”

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‘The way the boys responded was good to see’ – Kieron Pollard backs his team

After the defeat, Kieron Pollard said: “We were in the game for 15 overs, but we gave them 85-odd in the last five. We did have a good start with the bat. Nicholas showed his consistency. Rovman Powell showed he wants to be there. Coming to India is going to be difficult but the way the boys responded was good to see. For us from the T20 perspective, these guys are getting opportunities and they are putting in the hard yards.

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Another pace bowler Harshal Patel said: “We spoke about it after the powerplay (the line and length). The ball was holding on to the wicket and therefore we wanted to keep it a little fuller. Whenever we bowled shorter they had the time to sit back and pull it. We had the conversation that we want to bowl fuller. You have to have clarity on what you are going to bowl. Just focusing on the next delivery is important. There was a bit of dampness in the wicket because of the weather and it was making it difficult for us to hold on to the landing area. I don’t think there was a lot of dew.”

Meanwhile, Kieron Pollard-led West Indies didn’t have a fruitful series and they will try to bounce back in their next as well.