Brian Lara's last stand in India

West Indies great Brian Lara speaks on the India series, World Cup and hosting the games greatest tournament.

Brian Lara on the series against India:

I think it's a very important series. First of all, the last One-Day International we played before this was way back in the middle of December. So I think it is very important for us to get some sort of international cricket—January or February. I think it would have been great to get some sort of matches back in the Caribbean against international teams on the grounds we are going to play on but that's not happening. So to come out here and play against India the competition will be great.

Playing India in India, you don't get any greater combination than that. We are looking forward to this and I think psychologically we have had the edge over India in the few One-Days we have played in the recent past and hopefully we can maintain that.

On World Cup preparations:

We don't have the luxury of Australia where they can pick out of maybe 20 to 25 players. They can pick anybody and still be a force to be reckoned with. We have got, I think, 11 or 12 guys who you think are definitely going to be in the World Cup, but we need two guys—not just to be reserves but we need them to be assistants as well.

So these matches are very important to find the combinations and to fill those final two spots that I am seeing. I don't know the selectors might think even more, but definitely this is still preparation stage for us. These sort of matches are very crucial, and it is very important that we have younger players coming forward and staking the claim for selection in the World Cup team.

World Cup in the West Indies:

I think it is going to be a very important team. Host countries don't have a very good record in the Cricket World Cup—we are not going to use that as an excuse—but playing in the Caribbean has a certain uniqueness about it and as host country we are going to as much is possible take advantage of that.

It is the last One-Day tournament I will be playing in, so I think it is huge for me personally but it is also huge for the young team. We have grown as a One-Day team. Winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and actually getting to the finals of 2006 shows that we have progressed in that department of the game.

Source: Cricketnext.com