Nagpur, Jan 21: Captain Rahul Dravid denied that India made a mistake by going in with only four bowlers which allowed the West Indies to come within 14 runs of their huge target in the first one-dayer at the VCA Stadium here today. "Our batting has not been doing too well lately and that is why we went in with an extra batsman," Dravid said after the match. Man of the match Shivnarine Chanderpaul's whirlwind unbeaten innings of 149 gave India a few nervous moments as the Caribbeans came within touching distance of the Indian total of 338 for three.
"Sachin (Tendulkar) bowled very well in the middle for us as the fifth bowler and it worked out pretty well for us," Dravid said, admitting, however, that it got too close for comfort towards the end. The skipper lauded his team for a good combined effort and mentioned that it was good to record a win against the West Indies for a change.
"Sourav and Gautam Gambhir gave us a great start. Sachin batted beautifully in the middle and Dhoni and I gave the impetus at the end. "They have beaten us on quite a regular basis lately so it is good to start with a win," Dravid said. His counterpart Brian Lara described Chanderpaul's innings as "magnificent" but credited India for a good batting performance. "They started and finished the innings very well. Chanderpaul showed what he is capable of. Unfortunately, he had to finish on the losing side." Lara did not think his decision to field first was a mistake.
"We have been chasing well lately. We wanted to do that. We knew the pitch was going to last. But we did not expect to chase over 300. But overall, it was a good performance just after 48 hours after getting off the plane," he said. Chanderpaul felt losing wickets at important junctures hurt the chase. "We thought we could get it. But losing a few wickets made our task hard. The dismissal of Brian (Lara), who was looking good, was a big blow," the Guyanese batsman said, while admitting that the team went a bit slow in the middle which left too much to do in the end. (Agencies)
