West Indies stand on the cusp of a historic T20 International series win over India, but all-rounder Keemo Paul has warned that flawless execution of pre-planned strategies will be the deciding factor in Saturday’s winner-takes-all fifth match.
Paul’s words come off the back of a thrilling 24-run victory for the Caribbean side in Wednesday’s fourth fixture, where he delivered a career-defining bowling performance and captain Shai Hope etched his name into the record books. Paul finished with outstanding figures of 5 wickets for 41 runs, while Hope notched a record third T20I century, becoming just the fourth West Indian batsman to surpass the 2,000-run milestone in the shortest format of international men’s cricket.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Paul outlined the straightforward mindset that has powered the team’s recent competitive showing against the top-ranked Indian side. “Every game follows the same approach for us, no matter if we’re batting first or chasing. We just aim to stay as aggressive and positive as we can,” Paul explained.
On the high-scoring pitches used throughout the series, posting a competitive total has been critical to victory. Though West Indies lost the coin toss in Wednesday’s match and was forced to bat first, Paul credited captain Hope and key middle-order partnerships between Sherfane Rutherford and Shimron Hetmyer for putting up the required runs on the board. “The entire batting unit clicked really well this match. Hope has been absolutely fantastic for this team, and those partnerships gave us exactly the total we needed to defend,” he added.
When India began its chase, the hosts got off to a blistering start, reaching 60 runs without losing a wicket inside the first five overs. It was Paul who turned the tide of the match, taking a wicket with his very first delivery to break India’s opening stand. He admitted that restricting Indian batters during the powerplay has been a persistent challenge throughout the series, but told reporters that the team has put in extensive work off the field to adjust their tactics. “We hold long team meetings to work through these problems, we never take preparation for granted. Going into my spell, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I knew the field settings I needed, and I had a clear plan. I can’t share the details of that plan, but I think I executed it pretty well tonight,” Paul said.
Throughout the series, heavy dew in the second half of matches has created an advantage for teams winning the toss that choose to bat second, as wet conditions make bowling far more difficult. In Wednesday’s match, however, dew had minimal impact — a factor Paul says gave his team’s bowlers a clear advantage.
“Bowling on this surface, slower balls actually worked in our favor. Normally we struggle to get any grip on the ball here, but it held together really well for us [on Wednesday]. Our game plan was to keep bowling into the wicket as much as possible and nail our yorkers when we needed to,” he explained.
Paul added that bowlers have to manage expectations on these high-scoring pitches, where the margin for error is extremely narrow. “You can’t beat yourself up over one bad delivery. At the end of the day, it all comes back to execution, just like I said. For us, it’s just taking it one match at a time ahead of Saturday,” he concluded.
The series decider on Saturday will mark the end of a closely contested five-match tour, with both sides tied at two wins apiece heading into the final match.