A combination of poor batting, poor bowling and poor captaincy cost the West Indies the last two ODI matches. Yet some commentators and fans are trying to blame Duckworth-Lewis (D/L), saying it favoured Pakistan in the last match.
While I am not a great supporter of the D/L method, it's not as bad as some make it out to be, and it is often used conveniently as a scapegoat to justify defeat. For instance, before the rain, Pakistan had to make 194 from 198 balls. After the rain, they were asked to make 121 from 84 balls. How could that be considered easier?
In the tied match, when Pakistan should have been restricted to about 200, captain Dwayne Bravo decided he was the best option for bowling at the death, even though Marlon Samuels had bowled 3 overs for only 4 runs. Bravo's last two overs cost 32 runs and Pakistan made 50 in the last four, reaching 229.At one point in the chase, West Indies had to make 189 from 39 overs with 8 wickets in hand. We made 188, thanks to poor batting, with Lendl Simmons the exception. Only Jason Holder's heroics in the last over salvaged a tie.
By comparison, in the last match, after the rain, Pakistan was asked to score the same 189 but from 31 overs (8 wickets in hand), having batted 17 of those without knowing 189 would be the eventual target. They made it easily with 6 balls to spare, thanks mainly to poor, inconsistent bowling by most of our bowlers.
Again, Bravo chose to bowl at the death, conceding 15 runs in the last over, even though Darren Sammy's three overs had cost only 10 runs. And if scoring 121 from 84 balls was so easy for Pakistan, how come West indies could not score 119 from 114 balls (the equation at one stage) in the tied match?
With a little thought, we should have won the last two matches easily. Usually, it's poor batting that is responsible for our defeats. When you add poor bowling and poor captaincy to the equation, you can understand why we have not even reached the corner, much less turn it.
Noel Kalicharan
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