'Somebody has to hold the team together' - Head Coach Phil Simmons wants West Indies to bat full 50 overs against India

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons spoke about his expectations from the team ahead of the three-match ODI series against visitors India. The Men in Blue will take on the West Indies in three 50-over matches on July 22, 24, and 27 at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad.

Simmons emphasized the fact that the home team needs to bat their full quota of 50 overs with someone stroking a century and holding the innings together. To note, West Indies recently suffered a humiliating series defeat against Bangladesh as they lost all three ODIs at home.

Somebody has to score a hundred and hold the team together: Phil Simmons

“The main thing is how we bat our 50 overs; we have to bat 50 overs and put our innings together and partnerships together. Somebody has to be looking to score a hundred and hold the team together. Batting-wise, that is it,” Simmons was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“The bowling and the fielding has been improving daily. We rank ourselves very highly on the fielding. The bowling, we had a couple of games on those wickets where people might say we should’ve gotten more wickets, but the wicket got better every time we fielded because they had put out the second roller on it, and it had dried out from earlier in the day,” said Simmons.

“So, the bowlers have been doing well, and we have to continue restricting and getting wickets – that’s the only way we can keep totals low and continue to win games,” he added.

Talking about team India, the visitors will be without their permanent skipper Rohit Sharma during the ODI series. and will also miss the services of their senior batter Virat Kohli, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and pacer Jasprit Bumrah, as they all have been rested.

As a result, Shikhar Dhawan has been named to lead the Indian side, while star allrounder Ravindra Jadeja will serve as vice-captain of the team. After the ODI series, the two teams will play a five-match T20I series.