West Indies missed the all-round services of Jason Holder in the first T20I vs India at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was out with a niggle, skipper Kieron Pollard had said at the toss. However, his deputy, Nicholas Pooran, in the post-match press conference, was affirmative about Holder’s participation in the next game at the same venue on Friday.
Riding on Ravi Bishnoi’s leg-spin and some explosive batting by skipper Rohit Sharma at the top, India defeated the West Indies by six wickets in the first T20I. The Men in Blue lead the series 1-0 with two matches to go.
Pooran said that Jason Holder should be available for the second T20I against India. He also admitted that his side fell 10 to 15 runs short in the first innings. West Indies had scored 157 runs.
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“The match definitely slipped, we fell 10-15 runs short to be honest, 170-175 would have been perfect on that kind of track. Cannot really fault the bowlers, as batters we needed to pace our innings a bit smarter,” said Pooran during a virtual press conference.
“It was a bit tricky today, the ball was stopping a bit, it was two-paced. I thought India bowled well, there is a lot of dew here, toss was a big factor as well. Conditions and dew played a big factor in the end,” he added.
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Holder had missed the first T20I after being hit on the chest during a practice session on Tuesday.
“Jason Holder seems fine, he should be ready for the next game. I do not know the details of his niggle, so I cannot say about that. I thought the wicket played better in the second half. The ball was also coming on a little better” said Pooran.
