Can’t do much aside from being defensive against Abhishek: Springer

West Indies all-rounder Shamar Springer said his team’s “Plan B” was to be as defensive as possible against on-song India opener Abhishek Sharma but his early onslaught gave the home team enough cushion to “stifle” the visitors for a 14-run win in the third T20 International here.

Abhishek smacked six fours and five sixes to notch up his 14th half-century — 69 off 30 balls — while becoming the fastest-ever in terms of balls faced to complete 2,000 T20I runs.

His 108-run stand with Ishan Kishan (37) for the second wicket helped India post 223 and eventually win by 14 runs for a 2-1 lead in the five-match series here.

“He is a world-class player. Kudos to him, for sure. But I guess our plan B is to just be as defensive as possible and try to make him get singles and twos, running at moments. Nothing too extravagant,” Springer told reporters after the match when asked what their Plan B was, given that Abhishek had done well against Roston Chase’s off-spin initially. “It was just a matter of trying to pull him back and be as impressive as possible. Because there’s not much control you can really have here. The wickets are so good and those players are world-class players and they’re the best for a reason. So, it’s not really much you can really do besides be defensive,” he added.

Springer said the West Indies thought the target of 224 was chaseable and they could have taken the game closer. Springer smacked four sixes and two fours to make 35 not out off only 11 balls, but the West Indies finished with 209 for seven in reply.

“I guess we missed out on a few balls. Still, kudos to the (Indian) bowlers. They actually did pretty well. But there were a few balls that we could have put away and maybe brought the game a little closer,” he said.