India's captain Rahul Dravid and West Indies captain Brian Lara (right) talk to each other at the end of the fifth and final day's play of the third Test match in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis on Monday. The match ended in a draw. - REUTERS
BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC):
BRIAN LARA again stoutly defended his decision not to enforce the follow-on in the drawn third Test against India here, while insisting he has given up on calling for a faster pitch for the decisive fourth and final match in Jamaica starting on Friday.
Without hesitating, the 37-year-old West Indies captain even said he would repeat his follow-on decision if faced with a similar position in Jamaica, once he recognised his bowlers were tired.
After gaining a first innings lead of 219 with the last session left on the fourth day at Warner Park Stadium, West Indies batted again and closed on 113 for four.
They continued batting on the final morning, adding 59 runs off eight overs before declaring on 172 for six, setting India 392 for victory.
India were 298 for four at the close.
NO REGRET
"I will not regret that decision and as I said before, even if it was 300 runs lead, I'll be batting again and if it happens in Jamaica, I'll be batting again," Lara said at the post-match press conference.
"My team depends on fast bowlers. They run from 25 yards, they need that sort of rest especially if they have to work really hard in the first innings. If I had a (Anil) Kumble or Harbhajan Singh that are running up from three or four steps, I mean it's easy to ask them to come back out and bowl an opposition out again after just doing it.
"I mean it's a choice you have to make, but I am quite happy putting myself back in to bat in this match and setting a total that is just beyond them so we can attack them.
"They got 298 (for four). We had a lead of 219. My bowlers had rest, they had that evening off, the fourth evening. They had the night off and we were still unable to dislodge the Indians.
"Can you imagine if we actually put them back in to bat and they were able to rattle up some runs and put us under pressure with Harbhajan Singh and Kumble bowling the last couple sessions out here."
Asked what surface he would like to see at Sabina Park, which traditionally helps fast bowlers, Lara responded: "I am not asking anymore for any pitches.
"At the end of the day you can hope to see something when you arrive, but you have to play on what you get and we've played pretty well on what we've got."
Lara reckoned it was a "pretty good Test match" and pointed to the fact that West Indies were frustrated in their quest to maintain dominance by the India last wicket pair of Harbhajan and Munaf Patel, who added 47 in 15.4 overs while occupying the crease for over an hour.
"We batted well in the first innings and we sort of set ourselves up pretty well from that stage of the match.
"I thought that we bowled pretty well as well, especially to the Indians in the first innings. Unfortunately we ran out of steam, I suppose after nine wickets, and the last wicket put on quite a few runs which sort of set us back," Lara said.
"These little opportunities in Test matches you need to grab and finish the opposition off. But all in all we put ourselves in winning positions and credit must be given to the Indians for fighting themselves out of it and actually having a little sniff of victory at some point in time today (Monday).
ULTIMATE TEST AT SABINA
"I thought it was a very good Test match and again it unfortunately turned out into a draw, but it leaves Jamaica as the ultimate Test match, as the one that is a virtual final really and any team that gets on top and wins that, wins the series, so it's going to be exciting."
Lara said his major concern heading to Kingston would be the combination of the team, bearing in mind that an extra batsman was played here.
"My only concern would be what sort of combination you would need going into the final Test. It is a lot of confidence to gain from this Test match, but we played an extra batter, less a bowler, and I don't know what the combination is going to be like come the last Test match.
"But I think again, if you want to get 20 wickets, you must pick the players where they can get those sorts of wickets, but again it will be left up to the selectors and we'll see what's going to happen.
