T20 World Cup 2024: West Indies captain Rovman Powell calls for improvements, admits huge thing after thriller against PNG

West Indies captain Rovman Powell believes there is room for holistic improvement for the team despite a winning start to the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.

West Indies beat Papua New Guinea by 5 wickets on Sunday (June 2) in Guyana. Although the scoreline may say a different thing, it was far from a convincing victory for the hosts, who were at one stage staring down the barrel.

Chasing 137, West Indies were in a spot of bother. They required 40 runs in the last 4 overs and it was Roston Chase and Andre Russell who took them home in the end. And captain Rovman Powell, while speaking in the post-match presentation, admitted the shortcomings despite the victory.

"I think we can be better in all three departments. Credit has to be given to PNG. I think their plans were simple and they played good cricket. I think the score was a little, 10 or 15, too much. And as a bowling group that's something we need to work on. They played smartly," Powell said after the match.

He also said that the team was not at their optimum best on the day. Powell conceded the need for a much more robust performance in the coming matches.

"We weren't up to the straps to the level we want to play. We were at 60-70 percent. Hopefully we can correct that for the second game," the West Indies skipper added.

Powell was high on praises for Roston Chase though. Chase was the key behind their victory. He bowled pretty decent four overs and then scored the crucial runs with the bat. The all-rounded ended up unbeaten on 42 off just 27 balls to steer his team home unscathed, and the captain acknowledged that.

"That was very good. Started from a bowling effort, I think he bowled pretty well. And coming at the end, when we were under pressure coming there with composure, and to come out with a winning innings was great for us," Powell said on Chase.

It will be a relief for the home supporters as they have put points on the board. They will be up against Uganda on June 9.