- REUTERS
West Indies skipper Brian Lara and teammate Chris Gayle celebrate their team's victory in the fourth one-day international against India in Port-of-Spain on Friday.PORT-OF-SPAIN (Reuters):
BRIAN LARA says a 'sly' remark by India coach Greg Chappell about West Indies's losing habit inspired the home side to victory in the one-day international series.
West Indies and India meet in the fifth and final game of the series in Port-of-Spain today, with West Indies enjoying a winning 3-1 lead.
After the hosts threw away an excellent position to lose the first match, Chappell said he believed West Indies had forgotten how to win.
"It was a very sly remark. In the past, we've put ourselves in positions to win matches and we faltered on those occasions," West Indies captain Lara said yesterday.
"But after the first match of the series, the guys took notice of the statement and we've turned the tables,'' he said.
"It is still one of our problems. He might be right, but he hasn't been right over the past week. It's nice for the guys to prove him wrong."
West Indies beat India by six wickets in Port-of-Spain on Friday to claim their first win in a limited-overs series since capturing the International Cricket Council's Champions Trophy in 2004.
CHANGES TO LINE-UP
West Indies are set to make changes to their line-up, which will most likely include opener Sewnarine Chattergoon and left-arm wrist spinner Dave Moham-med earning their only appearances of the series.
"Even though we have put India in the bag in terms of the series, we want to know that we can come out on Sunday and still win," Lara said.
"Even though there might be a couple of changes, a couple new faces, maybe not the best XI, winning the match will be of great importance for us.
"We've played good cricket for two weeks and we'd like to lengthen that period of success."
India, ranked third in both Tests and one-day internationals by the ICC, came to the Caribbean on an impressive streak. Captain Rahul Dravid was not downhearted by the series defeat.
"We believe in this group and we believe they will learn and come back stronger from this experience," Dravid said.
"In some ways, it is part of the journey. Sometimes, you are running along fine and you trip up. You've got to dust yourself up and keep running.
"We've got to look at some of the areas we can get better at and keep running along. We've had some success, we had some failure, and we've got to learn how to cope with it."
