Nitish Kumar Reddy: West Indies vice-captain Jomel Warrican acknowledged the challenge ahead for his team after they were reduced to 140/4 at the end of Day 2 in the second and final Test against India, but remained hopeful about the team’s ability to keep the scoreboard moving on Day 3.
Warrican returned with figures of 3-83 and spoke candidly at the post-day press conference, with the West Indies still trailing by 378 runs. All hopes of avoiding a follow-on now rest on Shai Hope and Tevin Imalch, who are unbeaten on 31 and 14 respectively.
“It's going to be very challenging, but I know we have the capable batters and we can do it. It seems to be turning up a lot more on the second day, compared to Day 1, so we just have to apply ourselves, and that's what we are going to do,” he said.
The left-arm spinner, who foxed KL Rahul and B Sai Sudharsan with varying degrees of turn and had Nitish Kumar Reddy holing out to long-on, further drew comparisons between bowling in India and other spin-friendly venues like Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“On day one and day two, you've got to be extremely disciplined, whether this is Pakistan or Bangladesh, there will be a turn from day one. So, being in India, you have to really be very, very disciplined, but it's very easy to bat on certain days, so you've got to plan a way to be bowling in the right areas more consistently and just be patient.”
Warrican admitted the pitch in New Delhi hadn’t behaved as he expected, referencing recent matches involving India, including their 3-0 home series loss to New Zealand. “Then, when the ball starts to turn, though, you come into the game. After watching the last couple of games of India against England and New Zealand, it was turning very square from day one.”
“That was my expectation, but clearly that's not the case. I live in the moment. So whoever is in front of me, I try to accomplish it so they (other bowlers) don’t have to do my job, and then I will do the best I can.”
“Here, day one and day two seem to be good for batting, so day three is when the ball really starts to turn. So it was a bit disappointing for me as a spinner, but at the end of the day it's a team sport, so hopefully we'll go there and bat well and, yes, put a decent total on board.”
“That was my expectation, but clearly that's not the case. I live in the moment. So whoever is in front of me, I try to accomplish it so they (other bowlers) don’t have to do my job, and then I will do the best I can.”
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“I've got a lot of positivity from them. It's basically about having the ability, a solid game plan, and a strong belief. You've got to believe in your ability and believe that you can do it, and that's the message that they have been sending, so hopefully it will change our fortune tomorrow.”