Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS): After suffering a six-wicket defeat in the 1st T20I against India, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said his team fell 15-20 runs short while batting first and praised his bowlers for making a match of it.

After being restricted to 157/7, West Indies spinners bowled superbly in the middle overs to tighten the screws on the Indian batters. However, a solid knock by Suryakumar Yadav helped India to a six-wicket win.

Pollard said his bowlers did well to take the match to the 19th over.

"Good game of cricket overall, getting down to the 19th over was good on the part of the bowlers. Those 9 overs for 46 runs, if we had another 15-20 in that block there... it's a matter of setting it up properly. We can dissect it till the kingdom come but we have to execute. Hopefully, come next game, that can happen," Pollard said.

He said his batters did not score enough runs between overs 6 and 15.

"If I'm being honest, between overs 6 to 15 we scored too few runs. We were 15-20 runs short but if you take early wickets you can put them under pressure. But Rohit got off quickly at the start. Of course, it's an area we can improve (dot balls) but if you try and hit and get out for 90, the conversation will be different," he said.