Kieron Pollard declared himself ‘heartbroken’ but ‘determined’ to fight on in the international game as West Indies’s Super 12 fate was confirmed with defeat to Sri Lanka on Thursday.
The Windies saw their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title defence flounder further as they went down by 20 runs in Abu Dhabi, making the top two an unreachable target. Pollard’s side were second best with bat and ball with the skipper pointing his finger at the former as central to their struggles. “I think it’s heartbreaking,” said the skipper after the match. “A lot of different things might have gone wrong from the start of the tournament, during the tournament. The batting has struggled throughout the entire tournament. It has been disappointing, it’s something we’ve seen over and over and it’s something that hasn’t helped us.” he said.
“We just have to accept we weren’t good enough. The guys are disappointed, I am disappointed myself. Hopefully at the end of the campaign when it’s finally over, we’ll be able to give some information what we think or what we thought might have gone wrong,” he pointed.
The vaunted powerful West Indies batting line-up has failed to fire thus far, with Andre Russell scoring seven runs and Chris Gayle 30 in four tournament innings. Pollard himself had to go from ball one in the run-chase and went for a golden duck, bowled by Wanindu Hasaranga to encapsulate his side’s struggles.With one more game to come against Australia, Pollard’s final message was a resolute one.