'We have to dig deep and put this behind us' - Lara
Brian Lara, the West Indies captain spoke to the media at the end of the first match of the DLF Cup, after his side let the match slip from their grasp after a commanding position
Dileep Premachandran at Kuala Lumpur
12-Sep-2006
Brian Lara, the West Indies captain spoke to the media at the end of the first match of the DLF Cup, after his side let the match slip from their grasp despite holding a commanding position earlier on
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On the scarcely believable collapse
"It was a bit difficult to comprehend but these things do happen. We were
on course to victory, and we found a way to lose. It was not really
happening. We have to dig deep and put this behind us. We still have three
games at least to go in this tournament, and everyone knows where we went
wrong. No one apart from the top three got into double figures."
On how he looked at the match
"This wasn't a 279-pitch. The ball seamed around a fair bit, and if we had
conceded 30-40 runs less, we would have been more comfortable. Then, Chris
Gayle and Chanderpaul put us in a very good position, taking advantage of
some loose bowling from the Australians. We knew the new ball would do a
bit and the experience of Glenn McGrath would play its part. The idea was
to play off the new ball and then go after their less experienced bowlers,
but Gayle and Chanderpaul started even earlier than expected, which was
good for us. Unfortunately, we couldn't cash in on that start. Having
Chanderpaul at the top is an asset to us, and hopefully, he will continue
to do the job for us as an opener."
On what separates the Australians from the rest
"They have the winning habits. They see themselves as winning from any
position. They are the world champions, and they came fighting till the
end. Even when our openers were going strong, they appeared confident that
they could do the job. They left six or seven of their key players on the
sidelines and still won the match. They are beatable, but you must
give them credit for the way they fought and won today."
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo