T20 World Cup 2021 | 55 all-out is unacceptable but we need to accept it, says Kieron Pollard after England thrashing
After getting bundled out for 55 and then losing the match by 6 wickets against England, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has said that team's performance was unacceptable but moving on was important. After being asked to bat first, only Chris Gayle could score in double digits for West Indies.
Batting at No. 3, Gayle scored 13 runs and was the fourth West Indies batsman to depart at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Lendl Simmons (3), Evin Lewis (6) and Shimron Hetmyer (9) left back for the pavilion ahead of him.
Dwayne Bravo walked ahead of Nicholas Pooran (1), Pollard (6) and Andre Russell (0) but could manage only 5 runs during his short stay at the crease.
Adil Rashid who picked 4 four wickets for 2 runs in his 2.2 overs ended West Indies' agony by removing Ravi Rampaul as the Carribean side ended their forgettable innings at 55 in 14.2 overs.
Later, England lost four quick wickets but managed to win the match by six wickets and 11.4 overs remaining.
Reflecting on the defeat, Pollard reckoned that West Indies will have to "accept" their "unacceptable" performance and make a strong comeback in the upcoming fixtures.
"There's no words to explain it," he said. "Being bundled out for 55 is unacceptable. We accept that - we accept the responsibility. These sorts of games, we just have to bin it and move on. I don't think any sort of panic will come into the camp. We just need to accept it - we have to take it on our chests as big men and move on, because this is international sport.
"In the warm-up games, sometimes the intensity is a bit down with all the teams. Even though Afghanistan and Pakistan won, the intensity wasn't still that great. For us it's a matter of finding our straps. We haven't batted well in the three games so far and we have to find a way to get a competitive total on the board," he said after the match.
Pollard was also asked if the inclusion of in-form all-rounder Roston Chase could have helped West Indies in their opener. Replying to the question, Pollard said that West Indies went in the match with thier best combination of eleven players and the embarassing defeat would not lead to complete makeover in side's next match against South Africa on October 26. The 34-year old also asserted that batting collapses are not new in international cricket.
"You can look at all sorts," Pollard said. "Yes, Roston has got the opportunity to be selected in the squad, but we thought that this was the best XI to go out and try to win the first game for us. Just because we've been demolished in eight-point-something overs and made 50-odd, doesn't mean there's going to be wholesale changes because, as we know, when you're not playing and you're on the bench, your stock tends to go up a lot higher. We just need to bin it and try to come back stronger.
"We lost a couple of wickets early on and expected the guys to bat a couple of overs, just knock it around and see if we could set it up for the back end but we kept losing wickets, hence the reason Bravo went up to break the trend of the left-handers, just to knock it around a bit more. It didn't work today and these things happen. We have a plan for how we want to play this game. It didn't come off today.
"Obviously, we play a lot of cricket around the world, and this is not the first time something like this would have happened in any team or any environment. This is not something that's new to any of us because you would have had it as you play a lot of cricket. With the experienced guys, in a situation like this, it's easy for us to move on. We have another game in three days' time and with this group, each game is important. It boils down to a four-game mini-tournament and we'll take that and move on," Pollard added.
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