Confident of his team countering the Indian challenge well, West Indies captain Brian Lara said his players would make the Indians toil for each wicket in the ongoing second cricket Test at St Lucia.
"I am very confident that we would face the challenge well. We must make sure that India would have to earn every single of our 17 remaining wickets to win this Test," said Lara after his side finished at a wobbly 65 for 3 in reply to India's 588 for 8 declared.
"The priority for our batsmen would be to bat for 90 overs on Monday. That is the one big challenge. If we could take the game to the fourth day, we would be in a good position in this Test," said the star batsman who himself made just seven runs.
Lara parried question on his continuing poor form but admitted the pressure of the high total by the Indians got to his men.
He also admitted he read the pitch wrong, thereby including four fast bowlers. He had to finally resort to his part-time spinners Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who bowled 39 overs between them.
{{/usCountry}}He also admitted he read the pitch wrong, thereby including four fast bowlers. He had to finally resort to his part-time spinners Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who bowled 39 overs between them.
{{/usCountry}}"Looking at the pitch and the green-ness, I felt there would be something for the faster bowlers. But it has not turned out that way.
"I would also praise the right-arm Indian medium-pacers and probably there is lesson in it for our Jerome Taylor and Corey Collymore," he said.
"It still is a very good wicket and we would have to do very well in every session from now on. We realise in our dressing room that every wicket would have to be earned on this track. We have to be very patient," he added.
"It's not the kind of wicket where you would get the opposition out in a session or so. You would have to really work hard and place imaginative field placing."