It Was Credible Performance - Lara

It Was A Credible Performance - Lara

NAGPUR, India - West Indies captain Brian Lara spoke with the media after the first One Day International against India in Nagpur.

Following are excerpts from his responses.

His assessment of the match:
I think it was a very good match, evenly contested. India were a lot more prepared for this encounter than we were, I'm not making any excuses but it's been just 48 hours or so since we arrived here in Nagpur and I think the guys played really well.  (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul showed his class today and I think you saw where we lacked the fight and that was in the field. The opposition scoring 338 runs sort of put the game in their hands. I think we have something to work with, I think it was a credible performance by our team and I expect everyone to settle in to the conditions by the time the second game starts.

On what the turning point was:
I think it was always going to be tough for us to get 339, we had to score beyond a run-a-ball from the very beginning so to get that close was a very good performance. At some point we had to take some risks and I think we needed 150 runs in 15 overs so to get that close with wickets in hand I think it shows that we have something to work with so I can't really pinpoint what the turning point of the match was but I think that the two teams played good cricket, we had a lot of spectators here and I'm sure they are going home very satisfied.

On the Indian opening partnership:
Any team that has an opening stand above a hundred runs, that lays the foundation for something really big especially if they get it at six runs an over or above and that's what was happening out there, you saw this morning (Gautam) Ghambir and (Sourav) Ganguly played really well, unfortunately Ganguly did not go on to get a hundred but he played well and they laid the foundation for what you saw at the end (of the India innings).

On Sourav Ganguly:
He is a player of high class, and you expect performances like that. I know he is eager to get back and show that he should not have been out and you have to give him credit. It means you are mentally strong to come back from such a situation and do well so we know he's capable and batting up there with Ghambir he showed the maturity that is needed.

On the pitch (on which the most runs in an ODI in India was scored):
You expect that it's going to be laid for the batters, that's been the norm in One Day cricket since the time it was invented. I didn't see anything wrong with the pitch, the curator said in the newspapers this morning that it's a belter, over three hundred runs and so be it. We had over six hundred plus runs in a game and at the end of the day we are entertainers and this is what it is all about. We hope in the Caribbean that we have pitches like this and everyone is going to enjoy it and have a good time.

On if in hindsight the decision to bowl first was not the best one:
I don't think so, we are a very good chasing team and to get this close to this total our first game back after some time I thought that it was a credible performance and we have something to work with moving forward. We're quite happy chasing especially if we know the pitch is going to remain the same for the entire game. Marlon Samuels got some turn, Harbhajan Singh got some turn and for the pacers I thought it was a very pedestrian track.

--