Lara not worried over condition of the pitch

Brian Lara has lifted his game ever so many times when up against the best in the world. He was hoping his team would do just that as they take on Australia at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Speaking at a pre-match media briefing he said, "We have beaten the opposition [Australia] in the last month and that's a positive. We are going to ensure that the guys know that and the biggest positive is the fact that the pitch is going to play a part and we are looking to get the better part of it."

Lara did not place too much stress on the pitch, which has come in for plenty of criticism in the wake of the South Africa-New Zealand match. "Firstly you have to play on whatever pitch you're given. There's nothing you can do about it," he said. "What's confusing is the fact that New Zealand batted first and didn't put up a total on the board and South Africa batted second and did not do well."

At the same time, Lara stressed on the importance of playing smart cricket. "It's important for the team batting first to put up a good total. It's up to the people at CCI (Brabourne Stadium) to try and get things improved and the final is here as well. So we hope the pitches will improve," he said. "It's not the sort of pitch where you can think of 275 or 300 being on the cards. We will be looking to score as much as possible, analyse the situation as early as possible."

Interestingly, Lara also said the pitch was not necessarily one where the better team would win. "It's not a surface on which the better team is going to win, it's the team that plays better will win," he said. "Whatever you do first, do it to the best of your ability and take total advantage of the game at that stage."

Lara added that he and his team were putting the thumping loss against Sri Lanka behind them and looking to adapt as quickly as possible to the conditions before them. "We are the defending champions and there's a certain style of play that we have to adapt to. The defeat on Saturday had no ramifications on our position in the tournament and that all the teams have started on zero and we are moving forward on that positive thinking. It's a question of having belief in your players."