Ian Bradshaw celebrates after dismissing Yuvraj Singh during the India-West Indies Champions Trophy match in Motera on Thursday

Ahmedabad: The last-minute excitement may have left the Indians disappointed but Brian Lara didn’t see anything wrong with it. “The West Indies will always give you excitement. You experienced one here and will have to wait till Mohali to get to know whether India advances,” he quipped at the post-match media conference.

Thursday’s defeat has left India with a must-win match against the West Indies. “We can’t worry about psychological factors. We just have to go out there and win on Sunday,” said Rahul Dravid.

The Indian captain singled out batting failure as the reason for the disappointing show. “We were 30-35 runs short. We need to play a lot better as a unit. We are not playing as well as we can. There are lot of arrears to improve and we have got to go out there and do it,” he remarked.

Dravid did not wish to take any name. “I don’t want to single out names. These are things we discuss in private. A press conference is not the ideal platform to discuss selection issues. We all have to perform consistently to keep our places,” he explained.

Dravid, however, seemed satisfied with the close finish. “We fought hard and made it a close affair. We wanted to drag the match till the last ball. Since the ball was wet scoring runs would also prove difficult.

“We played four seamers because we had backup players who could perform the spinner’s role. Sehwag and Yuvraj proved handy.”

Lara described it as a “comprehensive victory”. “We showed some mature batting” Sarwan has been gaining more and more with experience.. The guys were determined. Playing India at home is an enormous task and we wanted to win.

“Beating both Australia and India have been satisfying. It showed where we stand in world cricket. Morton has improved since being included in one-day side. He is showing he wants to be a regular.”

Man of the Match Shivanrine Chanderpaul said “Lara’s presence played a big part. It was good to have him around.”

Chanderpaul described Dravid’s dismissal as the “turning point” in the match.

Meanwhile, Munaf Patel, who had to be taken off after bowling eight overs, suffered an injury in the area near his right wrist. He was taken to hospital for a precautionary X-ray. “There is no cause for concern. There is a bruise in the bone and he is expected to be okay,” said a team spokesman.