Rampaul urges West Indies batters to counter India’s spin threat

West Indies bowling coach Ravi Rampaul on Thursday urged his batters to “rotate the strike” and rely on their better players of spin to “counter” India’s three-pronged spin-bowling attack as they look to bounce back in the five-match series. West Indies made a promising start in the opening T20I in Lucknow but lost three wickets in powerplay —Kamil Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell — before India’s spinners tightened the screws in the middle overs to bowl them out for 171 in 19.1 overs.

India then continued their batting dominance, riding on captain Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 102, his maiden T20I hundred, to chase down the target in just 14.4 overs and take a 1-0 lead.

With India expected to retain a strong spin presence in Ranchi, Rampaul believes West Indies need their better players of spin to bat deeper into the innings.

“Definitely, rotation of the strike. Our middle order have Hetty (Hetmyer) and Shai (Hope) as well, and they are very good players of spin. We see that when they bat through the middle, we put up big, challenging scores. So obviously, for our better players of spin, it’s about batting longer into the innings,” Rampaul said on eve of second T20I at the JSCA Stadium.