WI captain blasts team mentality

SKIPPER Kraigg Brathwaithe has chastised the team's batting after the West Indies lost the Test series to Bangladesh by surrendering the 2nd Test by an innings and 184 runs. This follows up the 1st Test where the Windies went down by 64 runs, allowing Bangladesh to exact revenge for their Test series defeat in the Caribbean recently.

"It was very disappointing. Our bowlers did a good job but the batting let us down. Some of the shots wasn't the best. Most of the games we were 30-odd for three. It put the batting order under a lot of pressure. It wasn't good for us at all. I can't blame the wicket. Some of the shot selection wasn't good at all, especially yesterday evening," Brathwaite said to ESPN.

It's uncertain what good job by the bowling the captain is speaking of as the home team piled up a mammoth 508 before dismissing the Windies for 111 and 213. It was the first time in Test cricket that each of a side's top five batsmen (Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase and Shai Hope) were all out bowled to spinners. West Indies followed that up by losing 15 wickets in 71.4 overs on the third day, continuing to show problems batting spin on the tour.

Brathwaite admitted his batters haven't been "fully there mentally" in Bangladesh so far. "Test cricket is a mental game. Five-hundred on the board with the ball spinning on the first day. We could have had some talks. Mentally we probably weren't there, especially yesterday when we lost five wickets quickly. We have to do better as batsmen, even myself. We can't consistently be 30 for three. We have to hold up our hand and do the job. Simple," he continued.

Brathwaite himself is in the worst Test form of his life, scoring only 22 runs in four innings, compounded by a dismal series in India where four innings brought just 26 runs last month, making his appointment in Jason Holder's absence to lead all the more woeful. "I am very disappointed. I didn't have a good series in India so I was looking to lead the batting. But it didn't happen. I have to keep strong and try to lead the batting in the next series (against England in July)," Brathwaite added, confident he wouldn't be dropped from the team. He also became the first Test batsman to be dismissed by the same bowler in the first over of both innings, falling to Shakib Al Hasan twice.

As for the spin issue, Brathwaite lamented that his squad needed to adapt to non-Caribbean conditions as quickly as they can. "I think the pitches here were a little drier but we didn't carry out the shots at the right time. We just didn't get anything together with the bat. We planned for spin here. We had a lot of spin sessions in the nets. We probably weren't 100 per cent. Test cricket is never easy. You can't blame fielding. It is tough, but we have to get better," he concluded.