DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, (CMC) – West Indies stand-in T20I captain, Akeal Hosein has urged fans not to lose hope in the regional team following their shocking 2-1 loss to Nepal in their just concluded T20I series.
His plea came after the sixth-ranked West Indies demolished Nepal by 10 wickets in the third and final T20I on Tuesday to earn a consolation win after they were thoroughly outplayed by their 18th-ranked opponents in the first two matches.
Hosein, who captained the side in the absence of regular skipper Shai Hope, acknowledged that while their supporters had all rights to be discouraged after the loss, he said the team would get its act together leading up to the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, slated to bowl off in early February.
“I mean we owe everything to them. We’ve been disappointing them for a while now and hopefully we can sort of give them a positive message with such a clinical performance.
“But as I’ve said in the past, we’ve really disappointed them and hopefully we can make that turn leading up to the World Cup,” Hosein said.
Despite the embarrassing series loss, Hosein said he was very impressed with the way in which the Windies outplayed Nepal in the final T20I.
He also gave Nepal credit for preparing pitches which suited their strengths in the opening two matches of the series.
“I’m happy to see them come out and give that sort of performance, the last game in the end of the series, losing two games up front, I think it was an excellent effort and clinical as well.
“But I thought Nepal ticked all the boxes in this series. They batted well, they bowled well, and they fielded well and if I can go one step further, in winning a series I believe you have to do everything possible in your power, especially when it’s your home series,” Hosein said.
“And if you can look over the past three games, the first two games were definitely their home conditions, a surface that they are accustomed to, it was slow and low. And if you can see, once they secured that series, they came and they played on a green top, probably for experience or to get accustomed and it was a totally different match.
“So, kudos to them, they used their home advantage pretty well and that’s why they are the winners here today,” he added.