GAYLE

CUTTACK, India (CMC):

STAND-IN CAPTAIN Chris Gayle has lamented the West Indies' inability to finish off matches, following their second successive loss to India by a close margin in the second one-day international on Wednesday.

Set a modest 190 to win from their allotted 50 overs, West Indies were dismissed for 168 in 48.2 overs, with only Shivnarine Chanderpaul getting among the runs with 67.

"So near but so far. We need to bring it home. It doesn't make sense for us to bring it so close and then we can't finish it off," Gayle lamented, following the 20-run loss at the Barabati Stadium.

"We need the guys in the middle to come in and finish the game for us. Shiv (Chanderpaul) is batting well, you have to give credit to him. We need someone to stay there with him and build a big partnership and hopefully they can bring it home.

"We lost crucial wickets at crucial times. It is something we have to work on. It has been affecting us in the past. We have to be cricketing efficient. Coming up to the World Cup to play catch up cricket won't be easy.

"The target was gettable but we lost early wickets (and) that put us under pressure. Shiv batted well but it was just for us to capitalise on the middle."

It was the second match West Indies lost by a close margin after going down by 14 runs in the opening ODI in Nagpur last Sunday.

Gayle criticised the pitch at the Barabati Stadium, noting it was not ideal for ODI cricket but admitted the Indian spinners utilised the conditions well.

"It's wasn't the best wicket to play (one-day) cricket, as you saw in the first over the ball popped out of the pitch. It was a bit dusty and slow but having said that we still had to play on it and in the end India came out on top on it," Gayle said.

"It didn't get worse (when West Indies batted), it was playing the same way. The dew came in and the ball was coming on to the bat so it was a bit easier to bat on, it's just that the spinners did well for the Indian team."

With West Indies down 2-0 with just two matches remaining, Gayle admitted that making a comeback in the series would be difficult.

"It's going to be difficult. We are behind the eight ball (and) we can't afford to lose any more games. We can only level the series now. Shiv is going well, hopefully we can support him and play around him," Gayle said.

The West Indies travelled from Cuttack to Chennai yesterday, where they will play the third ODI tomorrow morning (Ja time).