da bet esporte： Brian Lara, the West Indies captain spoke to the media at the end of the first match of the DLF Cup, after his side let the match slip from their grasp after a commanding position
Dileep Premachandran at Kuala Lumpur12-Sep-2006
‘We were on course to victory, and we found a way to lose ‘ – Lara © Getty Images
On the scarcely believable collapse”It was a bit difficult to comprehend but these things do happen. We wereon course to victory, and we found a way to lose. It was not reallyhappening. We have to dig deep and put this behind us. We still have threegames at least to go in this tournament, and everyone knows where we wentwrong. No one apart from the top three got into double figures.”On how he looked at the match”This wasn’t a 279-pitch. The ball seamed around a fair bit, and if we hadconceded 30-40 runs less, we would have been more comfortable. Then, ChrisGayle and Chanderpaul put us in a very good position, taking advantage ofsome loose bowling from the Australians. We knew the new ball would do abit and the experience of Glenn McGrath would play its part. The idea wasto play off the new ball and then go after their less experienced bowlers,but Gayle and Chanderpaul started even earlier than expected, which wasgood for us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t cash in on that start. HavingChanderpaul at the top is an asset to us, and hopefully, he will continueto do the job for us as an opener.”On what separates the Australians from the rest”They have the winning habits. They see themselves as winning from anyposition. They are the world champions, and they came fighting till theend. Even when our openers were going strong, they appeared confident thatthey could do the job. They left six or seven of their key players on thesidelines and still won the match. They are beatable, but you mustgive them credit for the way they fought and won today.”