'We had calmer heads than India' - Lara

After the first game in Jamaica, despite going down, Brian Lara was adamant that his side hadn't played badly. A few minutes earlier, Greg Chappell had said that West Indies hadn't played too many close games and had probably forgotten how to win those. After pulling off a nerve-wracking second game, Lara reiterated that they hadn't played badly in the first, adding that they "needed to get better in every department".

After the third match - another close cracker - Lara said that tense contests were good for his "young team" to get more experience in such situations. After today's clash, a largely one-sided affair that sealed the series, he spoke about the crucial challenges they will face in the months to come. He might have spearheaded a heady triumph, in front of his home crowd at the Queen's Park Oval, but an articulate Lara kept things in perspective, refusing to get carried away.

Lara, who probably wasn't aware of the context of the comments, said that Chappell's remark had spurred him and his boys. "It was a very sly remark," Lara said. "The guys took notice of his comments and turned the tables on India. It is nice to prove him wrong. In the past, we have been in positions to win but we have faltered. But it is still one of our problems, we tend to lose crucial moments and then start back-pedalling. Maybe he is right and we do have trouble winning, but we haven't had too many problems in the last couple of weeks."

The victory, according to Lara, hadn't been a bolt in the blue, but one that had come about as a result of proper planning. "Over the last couple of weeks, we have played very good cricket," he continued. "No one gave us a chance before this series. But we put our plans in place and executed every one of them. I don't know what the future holds, we will look for consistency. But we want to come out on Sunday without our best eleven and still beat India. We would like to lengthen our period of success."

He picked out Ramnaresh Sarwan's undefeated 98, in the second game in Kingston, as the "most important" moment of the series. "Dwayne Bravo's ball to get rid of Yuvraj in that match was a crucial moment, but it was Sarwan's 98 not out that gave us a lifeline. Without that innings, we might have been rolled over for 100 or 150, and I don't think we could have defended that. That is the most important performance of the series so far."

But what had separated the two sides today? "We had an hour-and-a-half-long team meeting yesterday," said Lara. "I told the guys that India definitely had their backs to the wall, that they would be desperate to win and that they would rely on key players like Sehwag, Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif and Dhoni. I said if we could nullify that and have eleven contributors in our ranks, we could win today. We were 2-1 up, so we had calmer heads than India.

"India must be respected because they are No.3 in the world, but these are our conditions. I knew that if we put pressure on them and remained competitive, we could be successful. The absence of Tendulkar did make a difference because if he had been there, the captain would have gone down the order. But that's just one person. I am sure we could have been in the same position even if Sachin had been here if he had played just as well as we have done the last week."

To listen to Lara's post-match quotes, click here.