"We lacked finishing"

“We should have won both the series. I think the win would have boosted the morale of the team tremendously. They were there and then did not make it. Like 120 runs (the winning target in the Barbados Test), they should have been able to make it. I don’t have any excuses. What do you expect from a Test side (from that position),” he asked.

The disappointed Indian coach blamed the lack of finishing prowess as the main reason for not clinching the Test and one-day series against the West Indies.

“We freeze you know, at the finish. What do you expect from the (rival) pace bowlers, half volleys? ” the former Test all-rounder asked.

He refused to blame the vagaries of the Kensington Oval pitch for the defeat. “There was grass on it and a bit of rough patches. But that’s the way it is in international cricket,” he said.

Would a change in the batting order made any difference? “I do not think so,” he replies emphatically, adding, “in the team meeting on the morning of the last day, I had said if the ball is to be hit, then hit it. What is the batting order going to make a difference, when you get out for 81?” he queried.

He also was sore at losing the third one-day international from a winning position.

“When we had seven wickets (in hand) and needed 38 runs to win, it boiled down to basics, both (captain) Sachin Tendulkar and I had sent instructions to the batsmen not to lift the ball. Even if we hadn’t, there was the scoreboard (to look at) and it was a question of common sense,” he reiterated.

“The Indian team has to make things happen, they have to go for the win and not wait for it to come to them and not freeze in the finish. We batted well in the series against pace bowling but did not dominate. We scored slowly. We have to learn to dominate the bowling,” the coach said.

He did not feel there were any shortcomings in Tendulkar’s captaincy. “This young man is learning well. He had two of the toughest series (South African tour and the West Indies visit). I think you will see a different man from now on,” Madan Lal said.

He was, however, not forthcoming on the exclusion of of Mohammed Azharuddin. “I don’t want to talk about Azhar on anything,” was his cryptic comment. He was more forthright in his views regarding the reported altercation with Navjot Sidhu after the latter reported himself unfit during the one-day series.

“I am the coach. I have to give my mind to everyone. I do not hide my feelings. I tell them in the dressing room and not take it to my room which, if I do so, will mean I am not good (as a coach). Whatever I feel bad (about), I tell them. It is simple (to understand), he added.