After shocker, sound of silence

PORT OF SPAIN: There was eerie silence around the Indian camp. No loud voices breaking the silence, the air was heavy with a sense of disappointment. The Indian moved that little bit slower in the field, their minds still weighed down by the defeat against Bangladesh.

The bowlers weren't supposed to turn up for practice by they did. They didn't bowl but it was just a show of solidarity. Instead, the 20-dollar-an-hour local net bowlers gave the batsmen a torrid time extracting bounce and pace from the practice wicket.

In the media session later, held just outside the players dressing room, coach Greg Chappell sat in front of a bevy of Indian journalists waiting to here his explanation for Saturday's debacle. For once, even the Australian looked downcast.

The Australian looks for the bright side in every defeat but on Sunday he had no answers save this: "This is a remarkably resilient side. I have been seated in front of press conferences like this earlier and then the team goes out the next day and everything is okay."

The team management chose to leave the players alone after the loss. But for a few words that were exchanged in the dressing room, it was silence that had reigned.

"I haven't heard of the reaction in India but I don't need anyone to tell me what it will be like," he further added. "Playing cricket is a challenge and the world cup is a challenge but we didn't quite expect it to become an all-win situation so early."

Looking  back at the match against Bangladesh, Chappell felt that the India should have won despite the small total.

"We should and could have defended the total. Now, we don't have any safe options. We need to win the match against Bermuda and then win the match against Sri Lanka. That's all we need to think about, nothing else."

Earlier, as soon as the Indian team arrived at the Queens Park Oval, skipper Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and manager Sanjay Jagdale walked up to the pitch and asked the curator why was the wicket damp?

The curator, Shaker Mano, in turn asked Ganguly if the ball was sinking into the surface.

"I asked him whether the ball was coming bouncing on the batsmen or whether it was sinking into the pitch. And he said 'it wasn't'."

"There was grass on the wicket and when there is grass it means that the moisture has a chance to come out. Yes, the ball bounced and skid off the surface but the Indians batted badly. I was surprised that they didn't pick Kumble," said Mano. "With his height and style of bowling, he would make a difference on this wicket, the games against Bermuda and Sri Lanka will have similar wickets."