West Indies batsman Kieran Powell has said the team needs to build more partnerships and their batsmen need to score big runs to win matches more consistently. Even though West Indies chased 289 in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam and four of their batsmen scored fifties, Powell said the batsmen need to build on their starts.
"We believe we can beat anybody anywhere in any conditions," Powell said. "It's just for us to put the pieces of the puzzle together now. Obviously, we have not been playing good cricket on this tour, we have not been building partnerships, nobody has been carrying on [from good starts]. Unfortunately nobody carried on today and got a century but we had enough performances to get the job done. So we're looking forward to building on that from here."
Powell scored 59 from 70 balls with seven fours and a six and with a 100-run partnership with Darren Bravo for the third wicket, he laid the platform for the middle order to chase a competitive 289. His fifty was followed by fifties from Bravo, Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy.
While India captain MS Dhoni said the dew made conditions "unfair", Powell said they were fortunate to bowl first and that the dew factor is a "part of the game".
"Luck is part of any sport," Powell said. "Fortunately for us we made the right decision to bowl first. There was quite heavy dew and the ball got a bit wet so it had to be changed a few times. It worked in our favour and that's just part of the game."
Powell had replaced an injured Chris Gayle, who was ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury he sustained in the first ODI in Kochi. Powell said he was under no pressure to fill Gayle's shoes.
"[There was] no pressure. I cannot play the way Chris Gayle plays, there was definitely no pressure on me. I just wanted to play my game and enjoy it and it worked in our favour and we won."
With the series level 1-1, the final ODI is a day match to be played in Kanpur on Wednesday.
"We'll be very confident after this win taking the momentum into the next match," Powell said. "It is a day match, so totally different in terms of dew. It's up north so it might be a bit cooler but we just have to assess the conditions and play accordingly.
"Obviously being 0-1 down, this win is very crucial for us to level the series and [we] now go to Kanpur looking to win the series. "