/ Editor / 10 March 2007 /

West Indies captain Brian Lara criticised his players' professionalism after a humiliating nine-wicket defeat to India in their final World Cup warm-up game.

The Windies capitulated to 85 all out inside 26 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat in Jamaica.
Munaf Patel (4-10) and Irfan Pathan (3-25) did most of the damage after Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan had removed the West Indies openers.

And India required little more than 18 overs to reach their modest target, Robin Uthappa making 35 from 43 balls.
Lara, who top scored with 22 before he chipped a return catch to Pathan from the final delivery of the 14th over, said: "It's chronic the way we keep collapsing.

"We have to do some serious talking about it. We need to bat a lot more professionally if we want to win.
"If you want to be world champions you have to play consistently and we need to apply our minds."

The odds on Lara's men pulling off a victory on home soil have slightly lengthened to 10.5 in Betfair's World Cup Winner market.
Australia, who thrashed England on Friday, remain the favourites for the tournament at 3.25, followed by South Africa (6.2), while India (9.2) have attracted some support since the morale-boosting win over West Indies.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>