LONDON, England – West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo was pleased with his team’s victory over Pakistan which got their ICC Champions Trophy campaign off to a rousing start. The Windies were brilliant with the ball and bowled out Pakistan for just 170 in a hard-fought two-wicket victory at the Oval last Friday. Bravo said he was happy with the two points earned from the win as the West Indies moved to the top of Group B.
"In the morning if I said Pakistan are going to be out for 170, I would take that any day. We wanted to bowl first as a team. I know I have two very good fast bowlers and once they put the ball in the right area and pitch up the ball, obviously, they will have wickets," said Bravo, who was leading the team for the first time in a major international tournament.
"It was a tough situation and we came out on top and that’s more important. It doesn’t matter if you lose eight or nine wickets, we got the two points that we wanted. So that was a very important game to us."
He added: "We know Pakistan is a very dangerous team so we’re happy to end up on the winning side and this definitely will do our confidence very well. We won our last warm-up game and to win this first game is great, so hopefully we can continue in the same vein."
Kemar Roach bowled well to get the Man-of-the-Match award and was superbly backed up by world Number 1 bowler Sunil Narine. The Windies batsmen were made to work hard for their runs as Pakistan also bowled well, before Roach hit the winning boundary.
"I never thought we would lose. Chasing 171, we have been through tougher situations than this and come out on top. Rampaul was yet to bat, he has a top score in the 80s in international cricket, Kemar Roach batted well and so did Denesh (Ramdin)," Bravo said.
"We didn’t make the best use of chasing a small total, but you can’t take away anything from the batters. The Pakistanis bowled very well. You have to give respect to them. Most of the batters got good balls, but at the end of the day, we still fought through."
Bravo and his team-mates had a full training session in the outdoor nets at the Oval on Sunday. They will be back on Monday afternoon for another training session as they prepare to India at the Oval on Tuesday. Both teams will enter the match on two points following their first round wins. Bravo is confident of another victory, which would take the Caribbean side closer to a spot in the semi-finals.
"It’s another tough game of a team coming up against a team where the strength is their batting. We have the right bowlers, who can control their batting…but like I always say, cricket is played on its day. India could turn up on Tuesday and be knocked over…" the Windies Number 47 noted.
"But we have the right attack. We have the reserve bench that is strong enough to actually come up with the 11 that I think will do well against the Indians. It’s all about how we all come together and try to make the best decision at the right time for the team. It was important that we got our first win out of the way and look forward to the rest of the games ahead."