It was a tough wicket, says Dhoni

India’s chase of 183 for their fourth win became too close for comfort in the end but MS Dhoni took heart from the fact that the outcome came in testing conditions.  

 “I think it was a tough wicket,” he noted in his post-match comments.

“As I said, it's not really easy to chase this kind of a score on a wicket where it's slightly two-paced. I felt when the West Indies team was batting, it was slightly more difficult, especially the first 10 overs. But after that, to some extent, it settled down. But still, there was a bit of swing for their bowlers and that meant it was definitely difficult for our batsmen, also,” he reasoned.

Dhoni was happy that the lower order too is being tested which should keep the team in good stead in the knockouts.

“The good thing is that all the batsmen have got a chance to bat because the question would have been whether you are worried that the lower order has not been tested. But to some extent in this game, they were tested, and hopefully in the coming two games also they'll get a bit more batting and will be ready for the knockout stages because I feel we will need more contribution from the lower-order batsmen, and if we can do that, definitely we can add 20, 25 more runs than what we have so far.”

While he praised Man of the Match Mohammed Shami, Dhoni said he doesn’t believe in focusing on individual performances.

“So I feel the contribution of all the bowlers is superb. Umesh is bowling well, he is bowling quick. Shami, again, yes, he has taken the extra responsibility of bowling with the new ball, and it gives Mohit a bit more time in the middle order with a bit more feel, and he has been very consistent. Overall the fast bowling department, the three of them, they bowled really well as a unit,” he lauded the bowling unit’s effort.

West Indies skipper Jason Holder was disappointed with his team’s batting performance. “I think we were a little bit short than we would have liked to. I thought the wicket was a good to bat on, but we just didn't play ourselves in when we batted. I thought we should have been looking in excess of 270. I think the wicket was good enough to get that, we just didn't.”