West Indies captain, Kieron Pollard, is of the belief that the regional side has venom in them, and needed to show it against Afghanistan, something they achieved after a 3-0 whitewash in their One-Day International that concluded on Monday in Lucknow, India.
“We are thankful to God for giving us this opportunity,” said Pollard.
“We came here with a mission and specific roles for players, and all the players deserve credit,” he said.
“Winning is a habit, and anything that we want to do as a team is a process, and it’s something we had to improve in a period of time,” said Pollard.
According to the new captain, the team took the chance to show how aggressive they could be and urged them to make that way of playing cricket habitual.
“This was an opportunity for us to show we have that kind of venom inside us. We knew we had to rally as a team, and we proved we can bat 50 overs, and once we do that, we can win games,” he said.
The West Indies destroyed Afghanistan over a three-game ODI series, winning the first by seven wickets thanks to Shai Hope’s unbeaten 77 and Roston Chase’s 94 before claiming a series-winning 47-run victory, this time courtesy of Evin Lewis’ 54 and Nicholas Pooran’s match-saving 67.
In the final game, playing with Brandon King and Keemo Paul in the line-up, the West Indies restricted Afghanistan to 249-7 despite 50 from Hazratullah Zazai and 86 from Asghar Afghan. In reply the West Indies scored 253-5 with Chase scoring 42, King, 39, Pollard, 32, and Hope, an unbeaten 109.
Despite Hope’s knocks, Chase was named player of the series. (www.sportsmax.tv)