Joseph says WI needed more runs

Alzarri Joseph removed both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the same over.
Alzarri Joseph removed both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the same over.

Fast Bowler, Alzarri Joseph believes that the West Indies needed to score more runs if they were to win the first One Day International against India Sunday in Ahmedabad.

West Indies lost by six wickets after being dismissed for a paltry 176 in 43.5 overs and Joseph suggested that the team needed about 70 runs more.

“I just think we needed to score a bit more,” he said.

“I think maybe 240-250 would have been a more challenging score on that wicket so the first game out, we have two more games for the series so we will go back to the drawing board and put our plans in,” he said.

This is the seventh consecutive innings that the West Indies team has failed to bat out their full 50 overs when batting first.

Fresh off a short stint in the Bangladesh Premier League, the Antiguan seamer, who picked up 2-45 in the match, explained that more time needed to be spent at the crease by the batsmen with judgement and assessment some of the areas of focus.

He highlighted the fact that partnerships were also crucial.

“I just think we need to assess a bit better and spend more time at the crease, as you see Fabian [Allen] and Jason [Holder] did it, gave us a good partnership and partnerships are going to give us a better total,” he noted.

Meanwhile, according to Joseph, who bagged the prized wickets of new captain, Rohit Sharma and former captain, Virat Kohli in the same over, bowling on the wicket was difficult for the pacers.

He said, “It was pretty difficult, it was a slow wicket, it was spin friendly so it wasn’t really much in it for me but I just try to put in my efforts and put my best foot forward.”

“We had our team meetings and we had specific plans for specific batsmen so we were just bowling towards that,” the 25-year-old said.