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WEST Indies vice-captain Nicholas Pooran knows the regional team must defeat Bangladesh to keep their chances alive of advancing to the semifinals of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup, being played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
The teams will play each other at 6 am (TT time) on Friday in Sharjah, UAE.
West Indies have started the tournament with back-to-back losses and must win their remaining matches against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia to stay in contention of qualifying for the knockout phase.
West Indies were bundled out for 55 in 14.2 overs against England in a six-wicket defeat on Saturday.
On Tuesday, West Indies lost by eight wickets after being limited to 140-odd, batting first.
On Thursday, speaking during a media conference, Pooran said, “As you said it is a do-or-die game for us and we believe we have what it takes to be successful tomorrow (Friday) and again I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for us to perform our roles and once we do that then everything can take care of itself.”
Bangladesh will also be desperate for a win, having started the tournament with two consecutive defeats.
“Bangladesh after losing two games they are in the same situation as us as well.”
However, Pooran knows Bangladesh will not be a walkover.
“It is going to be a good challenge for us tomorrow (Friday). We need to get that victory. We are playing in Sharjah as well and we know Bangladesh have a lot of spinners as well, so it is definitely going to be a challenge for us and it is how bad we actually want it.”
Pooran welcomed the news that Jason Holder has joined the team as a replacement for fast bowler Obed McCoy, who has an injured right leg. Holder was already in the UAE as one of four travelling reserves.
“With Jason coming into the team – obviously he is a quality player as well – we are happy to have him (and) we wish him all the best.”
Concerning the dismal batting performance of the West Indies, Pooran said, “We just did not rise to the occasion, to be honest…I think as batsmen and as a team, we already accepted that we did not come to the party and we are looking forward to moving forward and hopefully we can do much better.”
West Indies have soaked up deliveries in the tournament, as batsmen have been unable to rotate the strike when boundaries were difficult to score.
Against South Africa, Lendl Simmons was one of the batsmen who struggled, scoring 16 off 35 deliveries.
“I think every single team bats dot balls, but it’s the way we are batting dot balls. We are not showing no intent, and that hurt us for the last two games. We spoke about it. We have practice in a bit (and) guys going to have a discussion, a voice again…we know we can make up (with boundaries), but in the first two games we really did not show much intent and we know we are much better than that as a team.”
Despite the poor start, Pooran said the team spirit is still high.
“The mood in the camp is still good, the guys are gelling really good. We are really hurt by losing those two games and we have only ourselves to blame, but the mood is still good, we know what we have to do and everyone is up for the challenge.”
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