Ahmadebad: India skipper Virender Sehwag on Mondayblamed his top-order batsmen for their 16-run defeat to West Indies in the third ODI and said they need to introspect and come up with a better performance in the last two games of the five-match series.
Leading 2-0 in the series, India today failed to chase down a victory target of 261 after losing half of their side for 85 in the first 16 overs, before being eventually bowled out for 244 in 46.5 overs.
"It is very hard to chase when your top order fails. In the last three games, our lower order`s contribution has been more than the top order and we need to look at ourself. One of the top order batsman have to bat for 30-40 overs," he said.
India conceded 73 runs in the last five overs during the West Indies innings and Sehwag said his bowlers failed to bowl yorkers in the death overs.
"When two big hitters like Russell and Sammy were batting it was difficult to bowl, they were connecting well. I told my boys to bowl as many yorkers as they can, they tried but couldn`t get perfect yorkers, but the team fought really well," he said.
Rohit Sharma once again played well and single-handedly tried to take India home before being run-out for a score of 95 in the 44th over and Sehwag was effusive in his praise for the batsman.
"Till the time Rohit was there, we thought we could win the game, unfortunately he got run out and missed his century too. He played really well," he said.
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy praised his boys for the fight back and said they clicked as a team.
"It was a good fight back from the boys, the way we batted, that spell from Rampaul, Samuels bowled well, the debutant Narine also, we stuck to it, it was a team effort," he said.
"I said at the toss that 260 would be a good total and we achieved that but Sharma tried to take it way but we stuck at it. We had to defend it and Ravi did brilliantly taking those early wickets.
"Narine came here in the CLT20 and bowled in the pressure situations, he`s used to it, it`s a role he has performed for T&T. It has a good venue for us, we have won five games here and we look to continue to do our best," he added.
Man-of-the-Match Ravi Rampaul said it was important to make a good start and he was happy to make an impression with the ball today.
"I think everything`s working in my favour, I hope we can keep up with this form. We needed to get a positive start, we needed to get early wickets. The ball swung around a little bit, not much off the pitch," he said.
"I think Narine really bowled well for us on debut, kept the pressure on. The pressure was there when I bowled the last over, but I just backed myself to perform. Hopefully, we`ll be confident after this win and ready for the battles ahead," he added.
Both the teams now move to Indore for the fourth ODI on December 8.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 05, 2011, 23:31