Munaf cherishes Lara's wicket

St John's, Antigua, June 4 (UNI) Pacemen Munaf Patel, who returned with the best figures among the Indian seamers yesterday, says Brian Lara's wicket is one of his most prized scalps.

Munaf took two wickets on the second day, trapping Darren Ganga in front of the wicket for nine and then got the precious wicket by making the West Indies skipper play uppishly towards point.

Lara scored just 18.

Munaf said as the West Indies batsmen were running amok, he just tried to keep things simple by pitching the ball in line.

''They were scoring at a very fast rate. It was very important for us to maintain line and length and also prevent them from scoring quickly. I just kept it simple and tried to bowl line and length. This was my simple plan that fetched me two wickets including that of Lara,'' said Munaf.

Munaf's two for 60 in 22 overs were the best figures among Indian pacers whose lack of experience showed glaringly against ferocious West Indies attack led by Chris Gayle.

S Sreesanth went wicketless in 13 overs giving away 82 runs while debutant VRV Singh gave away 43 runs in 10 overs.

Munaf defended Indian bowling and said that their modest show was not because of lack of experience. ''I don't think it was lack of experience that helped the West Indies batsmen. They played attackingly and it succeeded for them on that day. But a player plays his hundredth game only after his first game. We should not blame the young seamers,'' said Munaf.

The lanky Gujarat paceman said the bowlers were not bowling that bad but the pitched had eased out.

''Pitch was assisting bowlers but not as much as it was in the first day. I got good support from pitch but they batted very well too. I think this would be a good match, " he said.

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