Holder sees the positives

West Indies captain Jason Holder says while his team may have come out on the losing end of their five-match Royal Stag Cup one-day international series against India, there are a lot of positives to take from the contests.

The series, which had one game ending in a no-result due to rain, saw the West Indies losing 3-1 after succumbing to an eight-wicket defeat in the fifth game at Sabina Park yesterday.

Set 206 to win, India cruised to victory after losing just two wickets. Captain and top batsman Virat Kohli, with an unbeaten knock of 111, led the way for the visitors with Dinesh Karthik also ending undefeated on 50.

"We can take a few positives out of the series," expressed Holder, who in the West Indies solitary win claimed career-best figures of five for 27 for his maiden five-wicket haul in the format.

"For example, I think our bowlers were outstanding for the most part and we really can't ask them for more.

"The bowlers are fairly young and inexperienced and came up against a quality Indian batting line-up, and to see them hold their own, credit must go to them.''

BOWLING LINE-UP

Led by 25-year-old Holder, the West Indies bowling line-up included 20-year-old seamer Alzarri Joseph and 27-year-old pacer Keswick Williams, who made his debut in the series.

Fast bowler Miguel Cummins, 26, who played in the first two matches of the series to bring his caps to seven, was the other front line pacer used.

However, looking at the negatives, Holder said the batsmen needed to start owning their performances, and though young they could have done better.

"I must sympathise with the batsmen and urge them to keep going, and in the limited time that we have between series we need to make use of it and make sure we are better players when we come back.

"I can control only what I can control and the guys have to start taking ownership and responsibility for their own actions.

"The Sabina pitch was good for batting and we just did not capitalise on the starts that we got. If you look at our scorecard about three or four batsmen got in and then got out at crucial stages of the game.''

Winning the toss and electing to bat, the West Indies got off to a positive start with Kyle Hope and Evin Lewis putting 39 for the first wicket.

Hope, and his younger brother, Shai, then put on 37 for the second wicket before the 28-year-old Hope, playing in his third one-day, was dismissed for 46.

Middle-order batsman Jason Mohammed then joined Shai and pair proceeded to add 39 for the third wicket before Mohammed fell with the score on 115 in the 31st over.

Shai, 21, eventually made 51 with five fours, Holder made 36, and batting all-rounder Rovman Powell chipped in with 31 against fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who claimed four for 48 from his allotted 10 overs.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES

E. Lewis c Kohli b Pandya 9

K. Hope c Dhawan b Yadav 46

+S. Hope c Rahane b Mohammed Shami 51

R. Chase lbw b Yadav 0

J. Mohammed c & b Jadhav 16

*J. Holder c Dhawan b Mohammed Shami 36

R. Powell c wk Dhoni b Yadav 31

A. Nurse c Kuldeep Yadav b Mohammed Shami 0

D. Bishoo c wk Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 6

A. Joseph not out 3

K. Williams not out 0

Extras (lb1, w6) 7

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 205

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Lewis, 8.2 overs), 2-76 (K Hope, 15.5), 3-76 (Chase, 16), 4-115 (Mohammed, 30.3), 5-163 (Holder, 39.5), 6-168 (S Hope, 41.4), 7-171 (Nurse, 43.3), 8-182 (Bishoo, 47), 9-205 (Powell, 49.4)

Bowling: Mohammed Shami 10-0-48-4, Umesh Yadav 10-1-53-3 (w3), Pandya 6-0-27-1 (w2), Jadeja 10-1-27-0, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-36-0, Jadhav 4-0-13-1 (w1).

INDIA

A. Rahane lbw b Bishoo 39

S. Dhawan c Lewis b Joseph 4

*V. Kohli not out 111

D. Karthik not out 50

Extras (lb1, w1) 2

Total (2 wkts, 36.5 overs) 206

Did not bat: +MS Dhoni, K Jadhav, H Pandya, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, U Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Bowling: Joseph 7-0-39-1, Holder 8-1-35-0 (w1), Bishoo 8-0-42-1, Williams 8-0-40-0, Nurse 4-0-34-0, Powell 1-0-6-0, Chase 0.5-0-9-0.

Result: India won by eight wickets.

Series: India won five-match series 3-1.

Man-of-the-Match: Virat Kohli.

Toss: West Indies.

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Leslie Reifer; TV C Gaffaney.