‘It all comes down to execution’: Keemo Paul on his match-winning five-for against India

Keemo Paul claimed five wickets in the fourth T20I against India, helping West Indies level the five-match series on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

At the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, a 10-over-old ball tends to stick in the surface, fertile ground for a clever bowler to deploy his variations and potentially change the face of the game. For West Indies, in its series-levelling win here on Wednesday, Keemo Paul was that man.

‘Execute or be executed,’ were his famous words to the Windies during the India series and he did just that. In his sensational five-wicket haul in the fourth T20I, Paul first removed a marauding Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan in the span of four balls, using his pace to cramp the batter and drawing out edges before snapping up the key scalp of Nitish Kumar in the 19th to effectively snuff India’s hopes of an unlikely win.

He dismissed Prince Yadav and Axar Patel to get to the milestone a few deliveries later, becoming the first West Indian bowler to register multiple fifers in T20Is. He also became just the second man to claim a fifer against India in the format, following compatriot Obed McCoy (6/17 in Basseterre, 2022).

“We have some pretty long team bowling meetings. So we don’t take that (success with the ball) for granted. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what my field setting was, and I knew my plan,” he said, adding, “Obviously, I won’t share my plan (with you), but I think I executed pretty well tonight.”

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A lack of dew in the second innings worked right into the visitors’ plans, Paul acknowledged.

“From the batsmen’s perspective, after the first five overs, the message we got was it was a pretty good wicket. One or two balls were gripping, but other than that, it was pretty good. Normally, we weren’t getting any grip, but it actually worked here. The game plan was to stick bowling into the wicket as long as possible.”

The 28-year-old, whose promising career has seen its share of injury interruptions, also declared that bowlers shouldn’t be too hard on themselves on bad days given the nature of wickets the format now gets.

“The margin for error is very, very thin. It all comes down to execution. It’s just about one day at a time. It’s all about the process. Once you try to stick to the team plan as much as possible, I don’t think the (coaching) staff would have a problem (if it doesn’t work out in the end).”