London [UK]: After suffering a 23-run defeat against Sri Lanka on Monday in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran reflected on his side’s loss and said the result was unfortunate at the end of the day.
West Indies were chasing a target of 339 by Sri Lanka and the team was reeling at 145/5 at one stage, but Pooran went on to score a century. He was carrying the Windies hopes, but his dismissal in the 48th over after playing a knock of 118 runs paved way for a Sri Lankan win.
“It is unfortunate at the end of the day. I felt I had to capitalise in that over but it didn’t happen for me. I’m just disappointed for us today. You know we were so close to winning the game and we just find ourselves in some situation to lose our game… I was thinking of winning the game. The focus today was just on winning the game and it’s just so disappointing for me today,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Pooran as saying.
Pooran and Fabien Allen stitched a partnership of 83 runs bringing Windies really close to the target. But both these batsmen perished in quick succession. Pooran said that he feels responsible for getting Allen run-out at such a crucial juncture in the match.
“I knew once myself and Fabian were batting, we were in control. Actually, the bowlers didn’t know where to bowl and it got easy. Unfortunately then Fabian got run-out there and I felt a bit responsible for that, but we were in total control of the game and it just slipped,” Pooran said.
Before this match, Pooran had just scored 195 runs in the tournament from six matches. The left-handed batsman said that he worked a lot harder for his runs in the previous matches, but he feels glad to convert his start into a big score against Sri Lanka.
“I had to control myself, build partnerships, which was the most important thing and try to go as deep as possible. I felt like I worked a lot harder for my runs in other games, I was getting good starts but just today I carried it on,” Pooran said.
In the match between Sri Lanka and West Indies, Avishka Fernando helped Sri Lanka to post the score of 338 runs on the board. Fernando registered his first ever century in the ODI format and as a result, he became the youngest Sri Lankan batsman to score a century in the history of World Cup.
West Indies have had a dismal World Cup so far as they have managed to win just one match in the tournament. The side defeated Pakistan in their first match of the tournament, but after that, the team has failed to spring winning momentum.
The side is currently placed at the ninth position in the tournament standings with just 3 points.
West Indies will next take on Afghanistan on July 4.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]