Internet Desk: A dejected looking India captain blamed the two no-balls bowled to Lendl Simmons by Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya for team’s shock ouster from the World T20, here on Thursday.
Ashwin’s no-ball gave Man-of-the-Match Simmons ‘life’ at 18 when Jasprit Bumrah had taken the catch while Pandya overstepped when the right-hander was on 50. Simmons went to score an unbeaten 82 to win it for the Caribbeans.
“It was a bad toss to lose. Then it was a 7 pm start which meant that second innings started half an hour early. It was not bad when we started bowling. The spinners did not have much on offer due to dew. We have a history of problems when the spinners bowl with wet ball. The only thing I am really disappointed are the two no-balls,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The skipper said it had become imperative for him to finish quota of his fast bowlers Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah much before the death as that was the only way to make a game out of it.
“There was not much on offer; we wanted our fast bowlers to make a game out of it at the time as it was difficult for the part-timers against big-hitters like Russell. I felt that if they bowl well then part-timers will get a cushion of extra 5-7 runs,” said Dhoni.
Dhoni said that T20 is a demanding format but they have been used to it due to IPL.
“The conditions were very tough. It’s a demanding format as most of the games are close and only one or two games are such where a team cruises through. We play a lot of close games in the IPL and we were up for it.”
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said they drew a lot of inspiration from the recent performance of their Under-19 team that won the World Cup and their women team’s show this afternoon.
“We came here on a mission; we were inspired by the U-19 boys earlier this year, the ladies won earlier today, now we have two West Indies team in the final. We feel this is this West Indies team against everyone else. Everyone said Chris is under pressure but I said it, we have 15 match-winners. Today Charles, Simmons and Russell took that responsibility,” Sammy said.
Sammy said this win, that has taken them to the final, augurs well for the future of his team.
“We knew it was going to be a massive step, against a very good India team, I must commend the whole team, we knew halfway they were 10 runs short. Even when we lost Gayle, Simmons just off the flight, he and Charles did it. I was just praying we win the toss, I surprised myself winning five out of five,” he said.