Collymore blames it on inexperience

West Indies have been at the receiving end of India’s batting might for two straight days and their bowling coach Corey Collymore blamed the poor show on the inexperience of the side.

“We have a very inexperienced bowling line-up. Losing our captain (Jason Holder) on the first day and also Kemar Roach going back home was a big loss for us. Young Sherman Lewis and Keemo Paul, one making his debut and the other playing only his second Test, were trying their best. They found it difficult with the conditions, playing first time in India. I think the sub-continent is a hard place for any fast bowler, even with experience,” said Collymore at the post-match press conference here on Friday.

Collymore said India’s strong show on the opening day dealt his bowlers a psychological blow. “It goes back to the first day. It was a hard day. They (India) were scoring five runs per over,” he offered.

The former West Indies pacer said his bowlers could have executed the plans better. “I don’t want to just give excuses. We as a bowling unit realise that we still did not bowl as well as we could have or should have. That's something we discussed and I think today was an improvement. Even in the middle period on the first day, I thought there was a bit of an improvement. But be it first or second Test, it's always going to be difficult. Going forward, that's something that they will take on board and hopefully will help them in their careers,” Collymore explained.

The coach said his bowlers can take a leaf out of India’s performance with the ball. “I stressed to the bowlers to have a look and see how well the Indians started. That's something I was talking about, our starts. If you look at yesterday, we started too wide and too short. Whereas Indian pacers were right on the money,” he said.