An elated VVS Laxman, the India A captain, praised his team's ability to "play as a unit" after they sneaked a humdinger of a contest against India Senior at Mohali. His counterpart, Mohammad Kaif, was expectedly downcast but was happy to have been part of a "fantastic match", one that was wrenched from their grasp in the final moments.
"We had spoken about the importance of playing as a unit," said Laxman, whose side triumphed in a high-scoring contest despite none of their batsmen managing a half-century. "It's easy for players to concentrate on individual performances in these games and we were keen that all focus to contribute towards a team cause. We were always in contention during the chase." He felt that Dinesh Karthik and Niraj Patel had provided the momentum during the chase and felt that their partnership "set it up" for them.
He added that his bowlers had been guilty of conceding too many extras, but was appreciative of both the Singhs, VRV and Rudra Pratap, who he termed as "amazing talents". "VRV is probably the fastest bowler in India," he said, "and RP Singh is definitely one for the future. The tour of Zimbabwe seems to have helped him."
Kaif wasn't too critical of his players and spoke about the positives from the game. He said he didn't expect VRV Singh to play so well towards the end and defended his profligate bowlers when he said, "It was a good wicket and they had a strong batting line-up. Both Murali Kartik and Harbhajan Singh bowled well and the game could have gone either way."
He also hinted that the experiment of Irfan Pathan opening the batting was only meant for this tournament as "we wanted Mahendra Singh Dhoni to continue batting in the middle order. There is no point in trying out new things against Sri Lanka or South Africa so we thought we will use this opportunity to experiment." He also added that captaining the side had been a "learning experience" and looked forward to facing an inexperienced India B tomorrow.