Dubai: West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite wants his team to retain an aggressive mindset despite their loss to Pakistan in the opening match of the Twenty20 series.
“We lost the first T20 match against Pakistan because of poor execution [of shots] against good bowling,” he said. “We are an aggressive exciting team but we have ebbs and flows, ups and downs, like any other team. This time it just didn’t come off for us.
“I certainly did not tell any of the guys in the dressing room to lose their aggression. It’s just a matter of being more aware of the situation.”
Brathwite paid credit to Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim, whose spell of 5 wickets for 14 runs blew away the Windies batting.
“I don’t want to just say we didn’t bat well, credit must go to Imad who bowled fantastically,” he said.
“Anytime you get 5 for 14 in an International match, you must be doing something right, and to get it in a T20 International is even better.”
The Windies captain also acknowledged that Wasim’s stint in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) may have given him a unique perspective and insight into some of the Windies batsmen’s strength and weaknesses.
“Imad had a headstart on us as he is playing in the CPL,” he said, “He knew our batsmen, and we knew him as well and planned for him. But, on the day, his execution was better than ours.”
Brathwaite stressed that it was important to keep the faith in his players.
“Because we have one bad game, it does not dent the belief we have in the 11 guys that took part,” he said. “We understand that in professional sport you have ups and downs, Our first game was a definite down for the team, we didn’t play like world champions, we didn’t play like the number one team in the world, and the result showed. Well played to Pakistan.”
Whatever the results, Brathwaite says he always wants every player to give their best and to always rise to the challenge.
