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Ahmedabad, Oct 25: West Indies captain Brian Lara, down with a back injury, is a doubtful starter for tomorrow's crucial Champions Trophy Group A encounter against India.
"I am not totally sure," Lara said when asked if he was fit for the tie.
The West Indies skipper, who developed a lower back spasm during their match against Australia last week, said the injury had improved in the last few days but more rest could be better.
"But still, things do not look too good. A little bit of rest might be better," Lara said on the eve of the match.
Lara, who returned to the nets yesterday after skipping practice for two days, had a few knocks today and said "that was as far as I could take".
But, he said, the final decision would be taken only tomorrow before the start of the match.
"It will be difficult to go full out. But even if I do not play, we still have the XI who can do the job well against India," Lara said.
There was more bad news in store for the Caribbeans as pacer Corey Collimore, who returned home to be with his wife during the birth of their child, has extended his stay.
"Collimore is delayed as the child is not yet born. So he has been allowed to stay back. And he will miss the India match," West Indies media manager Imran Khan said.
To top it all, coach Bennet King was also lying low by a bout of food poisoning, and could not be present at the nets this afternoon.
Earlier, Shivnarine Chanderpaul had fallen a victim to the same problem that had forced him to pull out from the Australia match.
Asked if he would feel bad to sit out of the match when he was so close to scoring 10,000 one-days runs, Lara replied "it's not important getting into the five figures. We have a game to work on". The star batsman expressed satisfaction with the pitch at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium but said runs would be diffcult to come by.
"It's a decent track. Though the batsmen will have to work to get the runs," he said.
Lara, however, said his side had a psychological advantage over the home side while they were also improving as a team with every game.
"I think that while our record against India is impressive, our guys also know they are playing India in their own backyard. Our boys know what to do in these conditions, and that gives them a greater psychological advantage.
"After we lost to the Sri Lankans (in the last qualifying outing) we went back to the drawing board. And we did execute the plans against the best team of the world.
"We are improving. You may see an even better performance tomorrow," Lara said sounding a warning to the Indians. (Agencies)
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