The practice match was 33 overs old, West Indies had taken control after a 101 from Chris Gayle, the verdict was clear long before the Gujarat XI went down by 173 runs — and Brian Lara slipped out of the dressing room. The other superstar of the Champions Trophy, along with Sachin Tendulkar, the West Indies captain was out for a training round at the adjoining main ground, joined by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The star duo, along with their trainer, began an extensive sprinting session even as fans watched them from the other side of the fence. Lara then took a short break, moved towards the fans, shot a few queries at them, and then asked us to act as translators. Then, two more rounds of running over, the exhausted 37-year-old virtually collapsed on us. One of us poured water on his head, the other tilted the bottle for him to drink. Minutes later, refreshed, Brian Lara spoke to The Indian Express on his team and the Champions Trophy — West Indies take on Zimbabwe here on Sunday. Excerpts:

You are defending the title, does it put extra pressure on the team?

Of course not. We will play the preliminary round since we have to. And if we cannot qualify to the next stage, we don’t deserve to be there. It is as simple as that. This is a good practice match for us, and we will take it from here.

How do you evaluate the recent performances of your team?

... contd.