West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan said he was happy the hosts have managed to keep the ongoing Test series against India alive by drawing the first two matches, but admitted that the results could have gone otherwise had it not been for the weather and some good individual efforts.
'Although we are happy to go into the third Test 0-0, we do realise that we need to improve on those last two performances. It is a bit of a concern that we might have lost the last match had it not rained on day four, so we are aware that we have to get better,' Sarwan wrote in his column for a web site.
He said the results are satisfying also because they show an improvement in the West Indian team over the past two years. He said his team managed to come out of tough situations in the two matches, which was unlikely to think of earlier.
'We realise that a year ago we might probably have lost those games, so it shows how far we have progressed and grown as a team.
'We are harder to beat now,' he said.
The Windies vice-captain, who jumped to the second spot in the ICC rankings after his excellent show in the one-day series, said he aspired to overtake top placed Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist on the list.
'Reaching number two in the one-day world batting rankings afterwards was very satisfying and I would love to go a step further and dislodge Adam Gilchrist but ultimately I'm happy to be in the top 10,' he said.
Dismissing suggestions that the contract dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board was affecting their performance against India, Sarwan said the team has remained focused on the game and the issue is not much of a concern for them right now.
'I don't want to say too much about that [pay dispute] stuff.
'The team, including myself obviously, have just been training and preparing for the match as we would with any other match, and there hasn't been much talk about things away from the game,' he said.
