Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh brushed aside concerns around India’s long tail after their shock loss in the first T20I against the West Indies, saying such things are only discussed after a defeat.

The list of specialist batters ended with Sanju Samson at No.6 in the first game of the five-match series, which India lost by four runs on Thursday.

“Not really,” said Arshdeep when asked about the concerns around the batting order that has Axar Patel, a left-arm spinner who has vastly improved with the bat in recent times, at No.7.

“These kind of things always come after the end of the match. The playing XI we fielded, we were confident that we would win the match. We always back our playing XI whether it has six bowlers or nine. It doesn’t matter at all,” he added.

Arshdeep, who conceded four wides in the penultimate over of the West Indies innings, said the Indian team will “review” the loss.

Chasing a modest target of 150, India were restricted to 145/9 as the West Indies prevailed by four runs at the Brian Lara Stadium.

While the extras bowled in the 19th over may have made the difference, Arshdeep tried his bit with the bat and hit two fours in his seven-ball 12 that nearly took India home after the Indians showed lack of application.

“I guess we needed one batter to stay till the end because in their last two overs, five fielders were inside the 30 yard circle,” Arshdeep said.

“We will review the match. What we could have done better in the first innings... Where we could have kept things tight and as a batting unit in the second innings where did we miss the finishing part.”

The game was in the balance when skipper Hardik Pandya was bowled by the seasoned Jason Holder with India needing 37 off 29 balls.

India then required 10 off the final over with three wickets in hand but couldn’t seal the game in their favour.

Arshdeep said Tilak Varma’s wicket was not the turning point of the match.

“I can’t say it was the turning point. It is his style of playing. He plays a lots of attacking shots.”

Teams fined

Both teams have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate.

India were fined 5 per cent of their match fee for falling one over short of the minimum over-rate, while the West Indies have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee for falling two overs short.

Written with PTI inputs