Brian Lara has always been a realist in the face of
defeat. He doesn't plan to change now.
His teammates will be making a trip to Pakistan and the
Windies have been decimated by injuries and low morale
again; Lara's fractured elbow being the most prominent
setback.
According to Lara, it all adds up to facing the facts of
losing again.
I don't mean to be negative, and you never know what can
happen in sports, but for anyone to expect the West Indies
to travel to Pakistan and win the Test series would be
ridiculous, the former West Indies captain told
NationSPORTS on Saturday when the team returned from their
latest losing series in Sri Lanka.
Asking too much
Pakistan are one of the best teams in the world, with four
world-class batsmen and very good bowling.
I can tell you now it's going to be very tough to win, the
double world record holder said.
Lara said there would be points in any series where a team
played well, but to expect the regional side to travel to
Pakistan and simply roll over such lofty opposition on their
home grounds would be asking too much from an vastly
inexperienced squad.
What we have to do is take every match for what it is. We
have to play every session for what it is, every day for
what it gives us, but we still have to be realistic about
how much to expect, the diminutive Trinidadian said.
Strong mental outlook
Lara said the series loss to Sri Lanka could have negative
effects.
We knew we had a lot of inexperienced players, but the
losses could be looked at in different ways.
We can be negative and bow our heads, or we could look at
what we did well, and improve on those things.
He said he hoped the Windies players would have a strong
mental outlook on the game, and not start to believe they
could always play well at home, but were unable to win on
the road.
If you look at India, for some time they could win outside,
and they started to believe they couldn't, so they didn't. I
hope our players never develop that attitude, Lara said.
If we become accustomed to losing overseas, we can never
progress because we'll play expecting to lose.
We have to be thinking positive every time we leave the
Caribbean, but we also have to understand it won't happen
overnight.