DHAKA, Bangladesh (CMC) — Defending champions West Indies remained bullish ahead of today’s crucial World Twenty20 clash against hosts Bangladesh, refusing to be daunted by Sunday’s defeat to India that triggered criticism of their running between the wickets.

Head coach Ottis Gibson told reporters here yesterday the Caribbean side were still in good spirits, and would not suddenly rearrange their entire approach to the tournament simply because of one loss.

West Indies produced a lethargic performance in their opening game to go down by seven wickets to India and, with their power-hitters shackled by accurate Indian bowling, new questions are being raised about the Caribbean side’s over-dependence on boundaries.

“Some teams have players that can’t clear the rope easily so they hit the ball into spaces and run. And some teams have guys that can clear the boundaries easily so it works both ways. Based on what happened (in the last game) people will start to make assumptions, but the reality is that India bowled well, and yes, we didn’t get a lot of singles but we don’t normally get a lot of singles, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Gibson contended.

West Indies struggled badly in the early overs against India’s seam attack and were then derailed by spin, as they limped to 129 for seven off their 20 overs. Chris Gayle’s top score of 34 required 33 balls, proof of the difficulty in scoring which the Windies experienced.

Like India, Bangladesh are expected to employ a spin-based attack, with the likes of left-armers Shakib al Hasan and Abdur Razzak, along with off-spinner Mahmudullah, expected to play leading roles.

Gibson, who led the Windies to their T20 triumph two years ago in Sri Lanka, said West Indies did not have a problem with playing spin and expected his batsmen to approach Bangladesh with their customary confidence.

“Our focus is one step at a time, one game at a time, one opposition at a time, so our focus now is getting ready for Bangladesh. We know they’re going to come with spin and we just have to get ourselves in a position to play the spin perhaps better than we did (in the last game),” he explained.