Poor execution with ball let us down, laments Windies captain

Antigua, July 25 : Disappointed after going down one-nil in the four-match Test series against India, West Indies skipper c has blamed his side's poor execution of the bowling attack behind their crushing defeat by an innings and 92 runs inside four days in the opening Test here at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium last evening. "In hindsight you can say a lot of things. The combination we played had four bowlers and an all-rounder in Roston Chase, who bowls some off-spin. But execution is the name of the game. I don't think we executed well enough," Holder told the reporters in the post-match conference. Indian off-Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was adjudged `Man of the match` for contributing 113 runs and seven wickets overall for India, led from the front as the Caribbean side struggled to build partnership before eventually bundling out for 231 in their second innings. West Indies were bowled out for 243 in their first innings before they were asked to follow on. India declared their first innings at 566-8. While admitting it was always tough to play catch-up cricket, the 24-year-old insisted his side failed to sustain partnership for longer period, the area which they need to improve as a side going forward. "Yeah, it's always tough to play catch-up cricket. We never bowled well in the first innings...we had some good bowling partnerships but not for long sessions. Going forward we definitely need to improve, to string together better bowling partnerships, bowl more maidens. Having said that we were not able to create enough pressure," said Holder, who scored 36 and 16 runs in the first and second innings respectively. "I think we need to string together partnerships for a longer period. We tend to get 20-30-run partnerships but haven't been able to convert it to fifty and then onwards. Test cricket is about occupying the crease and spending time, but we never showed up for long periods," he added. Holder, however, called on his side to come up with a strong collective effort in order to avoid another defeat against the Virat Kohli-led side. West Indies will play the second Test against India at Sabina Park in Jamaica from July 30.