Fletcher justifies Indian team's decision

Indian coach Duncan Fletcher defended his team's decision to not to go all-out for a win in the final Test against West Indies, saying it was a difficult pitch to bat on. The visitors required 86 to win off a minimum of 15 overs left in the fifth day's play with 7 wickets in hand when Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to stop the run-chase. Fletcher, who faced a barrage of questions at the post-match press conference, said: "I said before. It (scoring runs on that pitch) was difficult. Once it got to four or five runs per over we were struggling to score. We were struggling to score three runs per over. The side decided it was difficult to get those runs and thought what's the point in going there and ending up maybe with just one side able to winning it." Fletcher again stressed that batting was not easy on the Windsor Park track. "I have covered it. I have been repeating myself the whole time. I have told you it was difficult to score runs. A man at 40 struggling to score three runs an over, how can you expect someone to go in there and knock five or six runs an over?" The Indian coach mentioned that Suresh Raina was promoted up the order to tackle the leg-spin of Devendra Bishoo but he too found the going tough with the ball turning a lot. "Once Raina was sent in he found it very difficult. He had gone there as the left-hander and to take on the leg-spin bowler but straightaway it's turning like that, they block off one side and it's always difficult to chase four runs an over in a Test match. Because you can do what you like with the field; there are no fielding limitations, and the most important thing was the wicket was very slow. Once it's so slow you can't play your shots, and that's a huge advantage for the bowling side ... Unless there was some real bad bowling it was difficult to score," Fletcher said. It took Raina 18 deliveries to score 8 runs and that too without a boundary before he got out to Rampaul. The fact the left-hander was unable to get a move on influenced the Indian team's decision. "Even if he got out did he score runs easily when he was there? And he was struggling to score those runs. If he had gone in there and hit couple of boundaries and then got out we would have said let's keep going because it's easy to score runs. Even Rahul in the end with those 30 or 40 and Vijay said it wasn't easy to score runs. I mean when a man is on 40 and been there for 23-24 overs and he is struggling to score runs, how is someone who goes in there meant to suddenly start scoring five runs per over? They have been struggling to score three and half runs per over. It makes common sense to me. If you just sat around and occupy the crease long enough you could just sit there and bat long periods of time. It was difficult to score," said the coach. Fletcher said the Indian team's performance during the Caribbean tour was a commendable one. He also said that the team has made a statement, considering the absence of key players. "I think we made a statement. We came here with five top players missing - Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkars, Zaheer - we come here with a young side and we have won 1-0. I think that's quite a statement to some degree. We are not sitting back on it, because at the end of the day we would have liked to have won 4-1 in the ODIs and 2-0 in the Tests. And that could have happened in Barbados. We have to look at this one and say this was a tough one to win. Barbados, with another half an hour, if the bad light hadn't come in I think we could have won it. Cricket is a funny game but I think we could have won it. That's making a statement for a team missing its top players." Fletcher said he was impressed with the performance of the youngsters, especially the bowlers. He also mentioned that Ishant Sharma showed a lot of promise during the series. "This series has been very good. Some youngsters were given an opportunity and especially the bowlers. Ishant Sharma winning the man of the series has shown a lot of promise. Unfortunately for Munaf, pity for him, he had to sit out first two Tests and it was very hard to ask him to come here and a bloke like PK (Praveen Kumar) would have obviously found it very difficult with this very slow wicket and it didn't really swing. From a bowling point of view they should have learnt a lot and hopefully they have. Only thing is, it would have been nice if some of the batsmen had got some runs but it was good at the end of the day that all the batsmen that were here got runs at some stage and that is very good for the England series." Fletcher said it was a good learning experience for the youngsters to learn from the likes of Dravid and Laxman in difficult conditions. "Just to be involved with the legends like Rahul Dravid and Laxman it will only do them good. It was very difficult for them." The Indian coach sympathized with the likes of Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and S Badrinath. "It's very difficult for young Indian cricketers than anyone else because they are given such limited opportunity and they have to try and replace these great players. They just put pressure on themselves and you can't stop putting that kind of pressure on yourself. You know you just get one or two opportunities and it will affect them. Hopefully they have learnt the mental side of things and go away and it does them some good," he said.