The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Lara stresses need to groom match-winners

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Sunday, Jan 28, 2007
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Lara stresses need to groom match-winners

Vijay Parthasarathy

CHENNAI: West Indies captain Brian Lara spoke of the need to cultivate more match-winners after the win over India in the one-dayer on Saturday.

Commenting on Marlon Samuels's attacking 98, Lara said, "I don't know whether he has turned a corner, but he is becoming more consistent. We need to concentrate on building a lot more match-winners. Everyone in the Australian side is a match-winner. We need more than just the likes of Chanderpaul, Sarwan or me."

Lara said his side would look to build on this win. "We gained momentum in the last 15 overs of the Indian innings. Gayle got out early but we managed to score at over one a ball for a long time. The game in Baroda - our last before the World Cup - will be crucial," he said.

Collapse

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid agreed that the Indian batting collapse was largely responsible for the defeat. "Losing seven wickets for 36 runs on a flat wicket is not acceptable," he said.

He disagreed, however, that India had found itself a bowler short in the end. "It's not about the personnel, it's about the execution of the plan. We had a pretty good team on the park today, and even when defending this score we fought really well. We will have to do better in the end overs," he said.

Twenty-five wides didn't aid India's cause; Dravid said control over the shiny new white ball was an important aspect that was often discussed in the dressing room.

"The first 11-12 overs are important. We're trying to get better at it. Today maybe the bowlers felt the batsmen hadn't given them enough to defend, but Agarkar bowled beautifully, and Kumble came back well," he said.

The problem, Dravid stressed, lay in India's inability to post even 300. "We should have scored 340-350 runs, which we were in line to get. Robin gave us a fantastic start. For someone who was playing his fourth or fifth game, he played a special innings. But one of the seniors — Sachin or I — should have carried on and stayed till the end," he added.

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