Carlos mantra:Whoever gets a fifty, gets half my match fee

KINGSTON: West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite gave an incentive to his players that whoever got a fifty would get half his match fee. Going by that, it seems centurion Evin Lewis, would have got his full match fees.

“We asked the batters to go out and express themselves. I gave them the captain’s incentive, whoever goes and gets a fifty gets half my match fee. We wanted to put smiles on the faces of the fans and that’s what we come back to do,” said Brathwaite after the match.

The skipper revealed that the plan was to take Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the equation. Bhuvneshwar was excellent in the death overs during IPL, not allowing batsmen to free their arms.

However, Lewis’s relentless attack in the fourth and fifth overs, in which West Indies collected 35 runs, forced Virat to bring Bhuvneshwar back early on in the sixth over game back from them. We’ve seen the IPL, we know how Bhuvneshwar bowls at the death and we wanted to make him bowl more in the first few overs and that’s a box ticked,” said Brathwaite.

“It was a good wicket, we did well to keep them to 190, especially after the start they had, getting to 60-odd in six overs and the way Jerome Taylor came back, being proud of, the finish that brought us into the game. We all thought that India are 20 runs short and then the batters pulled us back.”

Brathwaite was effusive in his praise for the young left-handed opener. “Evin played magnificently. He played on. He scores big when he gets in.”

The skipper said the presence of big stars in the team helped. West Indies saw the return of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narine and Brathwaite himself. Brathwaite has been under the scanner. He was left out of the longer formats as coach Stuart Law asked him to work on fitness to be eligible.

“I am up 5.30 in the gym, I practice from 8-10 and that’s what I can control. That’s what I continue to do and if I take the opportunities, I get back into the team.” said the skipper.

We wanted to put smiles on the faces of the fans and that’s what we come back to do. CARLOS BRATHWAITE, On the win