Mumbai Jan 10: With an unbeaten 85 runs and two wickets to her name, Stafanie Taylor was the chief architect of the West Indies Women’s thumping victory over India in the first ODI between the two sides. In an exclusive chat with BCCI.TV, she spoke about her role in the team and her passion for batting.

Excerpts from the interview

On her role in the win

I think the game was won when we stepped on the field and the whole environment of the team was just amazing. In the whole warm-up we just hit it right on the spot and when we went out there in the field everybody just came together. We didn’t get early wickets as we wanted but we pinned the Indians down and in the end we came out victorious.

On being asked to pick the point at which she thought the West Indies would win

The coach was just telling us that we needed to be patient. When the overs were about 20, I said to Shanel [Daley] that we needed to step up the rate a little bit. Not to force anything, but try to get singles. After that we just started knocking around the ball and looked for the gap and then we just did it.

On the next game in Vadodra after being one-up in the series

My next step is to continue doing what I am doing, I mean keep being positive. It’s amazing when all of these girls see me out there batting. They love to see me bat. They love [it when] when I am ODI batting. So I think I personally love to bat. I would just say that I really am doing what I like doing.

On whether she considers herself an aggressive batsman

No, I won’t say I’m an aggressive player. I take my time. I can be aggressive but I think the role that the coach wants me to play is just to be defensive most of the time. Just to see the game through.

On her being up for the man-of-the-match award, if there was such an award during the tournament

I would feel happy. It is something to be happy about. I batted 36 overs, I made 80 something runs. I think there is something to be happy about so I am happy.