Lara: We're Not Taking Zimbabwe Lightly

West Indies captain Brian Lara spoke with the media at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday afternoon before the team's final practice session prior to Sunday's encounter with Zimbabwe in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Following are excerpts from the pre-game media briefing.

We worked very hard in Malaysia, we played against two higher ranked teams and to get to the finals, I think was commendable. We are defending champions and I expect the guys to play really well. Our preparation has been great coming out of Malaysia.

We're here looking to defend our trophy and we?re going to be working really hard so I am very very confident, quietly confident. We have got a maturity of the team that played in England in 2004 (last ICC Champions Trophy) so the confidence is high in that department as well.

On what the final eleven might look like:

You have to look at the team that played against Australia in the final of the DLF Cup. I suppose there might be one or two changes you might want to make, I'm not sure exactly, we haven?t named a final eleven as yet. Most important of all, everyone is vying for a spot.

Competition in the team is very healthy. We don't know what the exact combination is going to be but the likes of Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo are putting pressure on the bowlers so there is a possibility of playing an extra batter because the all rounders are doing very well with the ball.

On whether there is any inclination to experiment with the final eleven against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh:

We've seen Bangladesh taking care of teams like Australia and Pakistan and they can do likewise to any other international team so we're not going to take those games lightly. We're going to play the best combination for us to succeed.

On if the ODI game is more demanding as a player gets older:

At age 37 you have to be as fit as you want to be. Test matches are fine, you can stand at slip and you can bat all day if you want but in the one day game you?ve got to be quick, very flexible and move around in the field like a 21 year old. That in itself is a bit tough but I?m working hard on my fitness, I feel good batting-wise, I feel good in the field as well.

The guys are rallying around me and I think that is very important in West Indies cricket, someone who can get the team to gel together at a very important time for our cricket. I?m hoping to put my best foot forward and entertain the Indian crowd.