Bravo takes blame for West Indies exit

Port of Spain, July 11 (IANS/CMC) West Indies ODI captain Dwayne Bravo has accepted part of the blame for the Caribbean side being knocked out of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri Series.

The West Indies were on the brink of securing a place in the final after successive wins over Sri Lanka and India on the Jamaica leg.

However, Bravo's men did not carry their winnings ways to Trinidad and when India beat Sri Lanka by 81 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method they were denied a berth in the final.

"Yeah, obviously it (being captain) is a big responsibility and the performance of the team reflects on the captain," Bravo said here on Wednesday.

"I myself, whether it is due to injury or slow over rates, have some key things I need to work on as a leader. It is a new form to me, a new role so I have to get accustomed to it and address it as quickly as possible."

Stand-in captain Kieron Pollard had earlier criticised the West Indies' 39-run loss to Sri Lanka on Monday.

Pollard, who scored a four-ball duck, was also critical of batsmen after Windies bowlers had given the team an advantage by taking early wickets.

Bravo has echoed the sentiments of his countryman and teammate that the Windies batting department needs to show more consistency.

"It is always difficult to point, to pick out what went wrong, but together as a team we have to take responsibility of a very disappointing end to a very good start," Bravo told reporters.

"You know, we are too inconsistent as a team. We show signs of improvement and then we take a step backwards. I think that is something that we definitely need to try and iron out as early as possible in order for us to move up in the rankings of ODI cricket."

--IANS/CMC

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