12 June,2011 07:06 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Stand-in skipper Suresh Raina wants his side to get more credit rather than be reminded of West Indies' quality
No one dare ask India skipper Suresh Raina whether the quality of the West Indies team has helped India gain the advantage over them.u00a0"The fact is that we all have played too well. Someone or other has put his hand up and we have prevailed," he was quoted as saying by PTI before Saturday's game. India won the first two one-day internationals and had the hosts on the run after putting them into bat in the third one-day international at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Saturday.
Munaf Patelu00a0celebrates a wicket with teammates during the third ODl
at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in St John's on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Newly appointed coach Duncan Fletcher too was emphatic. "I don't think it (the West Indies) is a bad side. It's an international side. It has players who have performed well in the past," said Fletcher. When asked about whether he was surprised by the maturity shown by his young side, Fletcher said: "It's a reflection on the pool of talent India currently have. It's a reflection on India's standard of cricket. IPL must have done some good. This pool of talent is a massive advantage to the Indians."
Skipper Raina gave credit to Fletcher for coming up the order in the second one-dayer where he boosted the scoring rate and took some pressure off his partner Virat Kohli.u00a0"Actually, it was the coach's idea. He felt that a right-left combination in the middle would work to our advantage primarily because West Indies had two leg-break bowlers," said Raina. About his first stint as captain in Zimbabwe last year, Raina remarked: "This side has far more experience than that team which played in Zimbabwe. We have experienced bowlers in Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra. Medium-fast bowlers Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel have bowled very well in difficult conditions," he said.
