T20 World Cup: 'Disappointing loss for sure,' says Nicholas Pooran after WI's defeat to Scotland

West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran termed his side's 42-run defeat to Scotland in T20 World Cup group game on Monday as "disappointing."

Scotland began their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign by inflicting an upset in Hobart. Opening batsman George Munsey scored a 53-ball 66 in his side's total of 160 for 5 in 20 overs. An all-round effort from their bowlers restricted the two-time champions West Indies to 118 in 18.3 overs in the second innings.

Munsey, the eventual Player of the Match, struck nine fours in his knock.

At the post-match presentation, Pooran, who only managed to score four runs in nine deliveries, slammed Windies' middle-order batting. Jason Holder was the leading run-scorer for West Indies with his 33-ball 38.

"It was a tough loss for us. Disappointing for sure. I guess now we got to do the hard work now and win both games. 160 was a par score. The middle-order batting was disappointing. We have been struggling in the middle order for some time and it continues. Definitely not acceptable (asked about the batting against Scotland's spinners).

The ball wasn't spinning much. We got to reflect and get better. The next two games are a must win. I guess when you perform bad as players, you want the next game to come as quickly as possible. I don't think we were complacent. We did get off to a good start, but disappointing after the powerplay," added Pooran on Monday.

West Indies are scheduled to play against Zimbabwe and Ireland in their remaining Group B games. Later on Sunday, another Sikander Raza show helped Zimbabwe thrash the Irish side by 31 runs.

Considering Scotland had played only two T20Is between last year and the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup, their win over West Indies was "special" for them, according to skipper Richie Berrington.

"It's a special win for us. A lot of hard work has been put in for this in the last one year. Extremely proud of the boys. We haven't had as much as T20 cricket as we would have liked (Scotland played only 2 T20Is between World Cups). But we played a lot of 50-over cricket, so it was important we transferred that skill to T20 cricket.

We were looking at a few more after the start we got off to. But we knew this was a competitive score. The bowlers were exceptional. Mark Watt was exceptional, in the powerplay and he generally takes big wickets. Leask today was excellent four overs on the trot," the Scottish captain added further.

Scotland's next game is on Wednesday (Oct. 19) against Ireland at Hobart's Bellerive Oval. Later that day, West Indies also take on Zimbabwe at the same venue.