The subcontinent-style surfaces at the Providence Stadium put a lot of emphasis on the toss. Bangladesh called correctly in all three games, and won by chasing low totals.
“These pitches are not helping us,” Pooran said. “The most it is doing is frustrating us as a group. It doesn’t matter who we brought into the team, we will struggle on wickets like this. Tamim Iqbal got Man of the Series for scoring 110 [117] runs. We do know that every time we got good batting pitches in the Caribbean, we as a batting unit have been doing well. Not only batting wickets, but better cricket pitches.
“Nine-thirty start is always challenging… a lot of moisture in the wicket. That had been the biggest challenge for us. The toss hasn’t gone in our favour in the last six ODIs in the Caribbean, and we lost all six [five]. I believe that the toss played a big role.”
“As a batting group, [we have to] try to bat 50 overs,” Pooran said. “It is the game plan for us. We weren’t looking at any target, to be honest. We tried to assess the wicket as fast as possible. Our goal was to bat 50 overs but we fell short by one over today [in the third ODI].”
“I definitely felt that we had a really good chance,” Pooran said. “We knew the wicket would get better as well. But losing Keemo Paul was big for us, especially since his skills were key in Providence. We were one bowler short. I had to bowl seven overs, which made it very difficult.”
“If that half-century helped us win the game, then definitely… I know I have to improve my batting, and as a team, we have a lot of work to do. I played well today but I left 20-30 runs out there. It was vital for the team. If we got those runs, maybe we would have won the game today.
“[Motie] has been tremendous in the entire series, not just today’s game. It was his debut series in front of his home crowd. He was consistent, something that we have been asking of the spinners for a long time. I am just happy that he took his opportunity with both hands.”
West Indies’ next assignment begins in less than a week’s time. They will host India for three ODIs and five T20Is starting July 22.