West Indies captain Brian Lara had some strong words for his players after their dismal nine-wicket defeat in the warm-up game against India in Jamaica.
The Windies capitulated to 85 all out within 26 overs and Lara said: "It's chronic the way we keep collapsing. "We have to do some serious talking about it. We need to bat a lot more professionally if we want to win. "If you want to be world champions you have to play consistently and we need to apply our minds." Despite his anger at his side's display Lara was happy to pay tribute to India's performance. "You must give India credit because they put the ball in the right areas and they reaped the rewards for it," he said.
India captain Rahul Dravid was keen to play down expectations after his side's easy victory.
"This win doesn't mean that we will turn up next time and win," he said. "Every game of one-day cricket is different. West Indies are a very good team, and I am sure that they will rebound, since they play well at home and have beaten us consistently here. "We see this victory as a good boost of confidence for us leading into the main competition." Dravid said the match emphasised the need for his side to be more flexible, since it was the fast bowlers who set up the win. "I do not think you can enter a World Cup with only one plan and every time you are going to use this one plan," he said. "I think it has to vary and you will see that teams will have to adapt to the different conditions and be flexible according to the situation. "We hope to do this and we think we have the players that can do it. "We have an idea in our minds about the kind of combinations we want to play, and the players we want to pick, but there are too many variables, so only time will tell."
HA HA HA...ABOUT TIME TOO !!!
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