Special Representative
SINGAPORE, April 2: Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin said his team has put behind the defeat in the World Cup semi-final and was now looking forward to future.
"The tournament (World Cup) is finished, gone. You can`t sit and keep skulking about things. It`s finished, it`s finished. It`s as simple as that," he told reporters.
"You have to look forward always. You can`t sit back on the same thing and say this happened and that happened," he said.
The Indian skipper said his team was talented enough to win here. " Although we are playing against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, one of the best sides in the world, I think we can win. We have the potential. All we need is to use it.
"Motivation and desire is there. It has to be otherwise it is difficult to play cricket or for that matter any sport or in any walk of life."
Azhar flatly turned down the question if Wednesday`s match against Sri Lanka would be one of the revenge India would like to take. "There is no such thing like revenge, at least not in my dictionary. I don`t believe in all these words. On Wednesday, we will go out to play just another game."
Azhar did not commit if he would put the Sri Lankans into bat again. "We have to wait till the morning. We have just arrived and we have to discuss tomorrow`s stragety later in the evening."
Azhar admitted that The Padang was a small ground "but it is picturesque. The ground certainly gives Sri Lanka the edge in the tournament because they have openers who can bash any attack in the world exactly the same way they did today."
The skipper refused to comment on the retirement of Manoj Prabhakar. "I think, it`s his personal decision. I don`t want to comment."
Sandeep Patel, who has replaced Ajit Wadekar, said he was looking this tournament exactly the same way all the managers look. "To win the tournament."
Asked why his team arrived only 24 hours before the match, Patel said: "It`s too late for me to say ; too early for you to ask. We are here; so no complaints or regrets."
Patel claimed that his players were out of the World Cup fever. "They are fit and roaring to take the field on Wednesday."
The manager said the Singapore and Sharjah tours will not be build-ups for the forthcoming two-and-a-half month tour of England. "This is basically a one-day tour while in England we will be playing Tests. They are two different tours; so they will be dealt separately."
The Indian team:
Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sanjay Manjrekar, Rahul Dravid, Nayan Mongia, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju, Vikram Rathore, Prashant Vaidya and Aashish Kapoor.