Indian coach Greg Chappell gave the credit of India's sensational five-wicket win to centurion captain Rahul Dravid.
KINGSTON (JAMAICA): Indian coach Greg Chappell gave the credit of India's sensational five-wicket win to centurion captain Rahul Dravid and said it suits the team to have him at the top of the batting order.
"His hundred was awesome as some years ago it was said he couldn't play one-day cricket. He's got better and better and I think he is enjoying the role at the top of the order. It suits to have him at the top for he can play an innings like that," Chappell said showering high praise on Dravid, who did not address the press conference because of day's exertions.
The coach said of late India was seeing a frequent top order collapse and unless the team had someone to score a hundred, the win would not have been possible.
"We needed somebody to get a hundred at the top of the order. Unless we had it, we wouldn't have won today," he said of Dravid's match-winning 105-run knock in the first one-dayer against the West Indies at Sabina Park on Thursday.
The Australian great picked Mohammad Kaif, who struck form with an unbeaten 66 after sitting out four successive games in the past few months, for a special mention.
"He is a very experienced player, who has played well in patches. He deserved those opportunities because of what he has done in the past."
"Looking at the World Cup, we still see him as a very important member of the side. It's good for his sake and good for the squad," Chappell said.
The Indian coach was also pleased that his side could recover from early mauling by Chris Gayle.
"To win without quite playing as well, as we have been doing, has been pretty satisfying. West Indies is a side which could hurt you because they
score their runs quickly. We see them as a side who could very
easily turn things around."
Chappell, however, said the West Indies have forgotten how to win. "It's a very talented side but they have forgotten how to win," he said indicating that the hosts were not good at handling pressure.
He, however, was not happy with his team's bowling in the initial overs. "We need more discipline in bowling area. We gave too many extras. We have to make sure that it's something we don't repeat”.
"Most of us thought the chance of playing the game was zero (because of heavy rains) and it took us by surprise (when the game began). That's something we have to be careful in the future”.
“We allowed ourselves to expect no cricket today and may be it took us a while to get started. That certainly was the way it appeared and we need to bear that in mind as well."
Chappell said he expected early moisture on the batting strip and justified the decision to insert the opposition in on winning the toss.
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