SPORTS

India is confused, claims Lara

Source:PTI
May 24, 2006 15:43 IST

West Indian skipper Brian Lara kicked off a mind game after a thrilling four-wicket victory in the third one-dayer, claiming the result would have left the Indians "confused" about their strategies for future matches.

"I am sure they they would be a bit more confused deciding to bat first as this is something against the norm for India. We have got them thinking which is important," Lara said, throwing down the gauntlet at the visitors ahead of the two remaining games of the series.

While lauding Ramnaresh Sarwan for his match-winning century, Lara put the onus on other players in the side saying they also needed to contribute.

"Sarwan is now maturing as a batsman, a player in the team. He is now pivotal, the catylst. But I expect to see more from others as well," he said.

"I don't want to be depending solely on Sarwan now. Some of the younger players need to put their hands up," Lara said.

He said the side needed to play as a team and not rely on individuals.

"It's important the guys move away from the Brian Lara scenario. In four-six months time, I don't want the captain to be in a comfortable position. In-house competition is very important.

Lara's counterpart Rahul Dravid blamed the lack of experience for the defeat.

"Sachin (Tendulkar) is injured and Yuvraj Singh was missing today. It is about 450 games of experience missing. Normally they are a certainty in the side. Of course, when they are back it would add a lot of stability to the side," Dravid said.  Lara also agreed that this factor made the critical difference in the match.

"The key for us was to have (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul bat at number six. We had more experience coming on later in the innings.

"When Sehwag got out, I told the boys at the water break that I don't think they would score 300 runs. We knew they had a lot of inexperience. Still we didn't expect them to score 60 runs from the final 20 overs but they did to our benefit," Lara said.

Dravid felt the three run-outs in the last 15 overs of the Indian innings turned the tide in the hosts' favour when a total of beyond 300 looked on the cards.

"Three run outs were the ones which cost us the game today. That's probably the area we need to work on. We can't end up getting run-outs in this manner, it cost us a lot," the skipper said.

"Running between the wickets is an area we have been talking a lot about. Batting towards the end of the innings is another area," he said.

Dravid did not sound very hopeful of Yuvraj Singh's full recovery in time for the fourth one-dayer on Friday.

"Back spasm is something you can't say with certainty. But there are still 72 hours for the start of the next game."

Lara was similarly sceptical about the status of Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the next match as he has been struggling with a pulled groin muscle.

"At the moment, it doesn't appear promising," he said.

Source: PTI
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