Jason Holder wants big scores from West Indies

Fresh energy, new ideas, renewed drive - that's the mantra of the West Indian ODI team as they look forward to life after the World Cup. Their batting performance let them down in that tournament, so the captain Jason Holder said, their immediate focus was on making sure the players convert their starts into big innings.

"Too many instances where we have gotten starts as individuals but never carried them deep into the innings, so that's one area we have pinpointed and once we've tackled that we have put ourselves in our very good position," he said ahead of the first ODI against India in Guyana.

The last two series West Indies played against India, they suffered 3-1 losses (2017 in the West Indies and 2018-19 in India) but the team has shown promising performance, drawing the recent series against England in the Caribbean before the World Cup. Their bowling, both in that series and in the World Cup was a major strong suit, Holder said.

"For me it's just a matter of remaining disciplined with the new ball, taking new-ball wickets and focus on their middle order and take the game from there," he said.

It's been a humid few days in Guyana, with intermittent rain. The humidity will play a role in the ODI, Holder said. The last two games the West Indies played in Guyana have been high-scoring, with the wicket slightly on the slower side, and Holder is positive that will be the case in this series as well.

The team will also gain a lot from Chris Gayle's return. "His presence is always felt whenever he steps onto a cricket field or in the dressing room," Holder said.

Gayle, who had initially announced that he'd retire after the World Cup, decided to come back for what is likely to be one last ODI series in the West Indies. The opener will have another chance to break Brian Lara's ODI record. He is 10 runs away from the most ODI runs for the West Indies - 10,348.