Perfect execution! West Indies’ Paul praises bowlers for sticking to plans

HYDERABAD, India:

West Indies’ bowling hero in the crucial fourth T20 International (T20I) cricket match, Keemo Paul, credited the team’s bowlers for their execution against India, which helped to set up a memorable 24-run win.

Paul’s five-wicket haul led the way for the visitors, as India were bowled out for 223 in 19.3 overs.

Captain Shai Hope had earlier scored a sensational, unbeaten century that carried the Windies to 247 for three in 20 overs in the match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Stuck to plans

While the West Indies’ bowlers were guilty of being erratic in the three previous T20Is, Paul said he was pleased with the way in which they stuck to their plans.

The 28-year-old Paul claimed 5-41 in his four overs, becoming the first West Indian bowler to have multiple five-wicket hauls in T20Is, while Gudakesh Motie claimed 2-13 from two overs.

“They got off to quite a rollicking start, you know the powerplay has been tough for us, and we haven’t been able to contain them,” he said.

“Coming in, we had our game plans; we had some pretty long bowling meetings. So I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what my field setting was, and I think I executed pretty well tonight,” Paul explained.

No dew

“This series has had some pretty big scores being chased, but I think the key factor is, there is no dew. I think once there’s dew, it’s quite hard to contain teams that are batting second. But the last game and this game there was no dew, and I think we executed our plans perfectly.

“From the batsmen’s perspective, after the first five overs the message we got was that it was a pretty good wicket. One or two balls were gripping, but other than that it was pretty good,” Paul added. “Bowling on the wicket, the slower balls helped us here. Normally, we weren’t getting any grip on the other grounds, but it actually worked here. So the game plan was just to stick to bowling into the wicket as much as possible and try to execute our yorkers.”