Mar 25, 2014
Ahead of West Indies‘ second ICC World T20 2014 match against the hosts, Bangladesh, former Indian opener and commentator, Aakash Chopra has raised some serious question marks on the attitude of West Indies after their insipid show against the Indians.
In his column for the Times of India, Chopra raised the question, “Have West Indies,who won the previous edition of the World T20,even turned up for the ongoing tournament?”
He further added that their poor show against India gave a feeling as though they were playing in a format “alien to them”, and not in which they are world champions.
He also lambasted them for their single-minded big-hitting techniques, “While due credit should be given to Indian bowlers for having a well thought out plan for every West Indies batsman, it was surprising to know that none of their batsmen had a way to counter India’s planning. In the lead up to the match, Suresh Raina had mentioned how the West Indies are a team of six-hitters who don’t know the art of taking singles. They seemed to be on a mission to prove Raina right.When big shots weren’t coming due to tight lines and the slow pitch,there was very little intent to rotate the strike.”
He also had some advice for the hosts, Bangladesh, “they (Bangladesh) must have watched the game closely and will try to follow the same strategy don’t give any width to (Dwayne) Smith, bowl slow and take the ball away from (Marlon) Samuels, bowl close to (Dwayne) Bravo to eliminate his favorite shot over covers. The best way to keep (Chris) Gayle quiet is to bowl a lot of off-spin into his pads.”
He also wrote that Mushfiqur Rahim needs to take a leaf out of MS Dhoni‘s book and bowl the right bowlers at the right times.
“Dhoni didn’t bowl a left-arm spinner against Gayle and bowled a leggie to Samuels and Bravo. That’s the kind of strategy Rahim will have to follow too. On the other hand,West Indies will have to think that the game against India was just a minor blip and they must bounce back.”
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