His team has unexpectedly crashed out of the inaugural tournament of the Indian Cricket League. Coming into this tournament with the likes of Astle, Lara, van der Wath and Solanki, they were expected to create a lot of excitement for the jam-packed audiences at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Chandigarh.
Four consecutive losses and a rare victory meant that the Mumbai Champs would have to settle for fifth or sixth best in the final standings table. They will hope to salvage some pride and finish the tournament on a high note.
Besides Lara, former international stars like Marvan Atapattu, Chris Cairns, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Stuart Law and Craig McMillan are captaining other teams taking part in the 17-day long tournament, finals of which will be played on Sunday. One of the greatest batsmen of the contemporary era, Brian Lara managed only 16 runs from the five matches in the tournament. He had not played a single 20:20 match before the start of the tournament. "I feel I am still adapting to the 20:20 cricket. It has been the first tournament and I hope things will not be the same next time," he said. Lara, captain of Mumbai Champs, one of the six teams featuring in ICL's 20:20 tournament, said youngsters have learnt a lot in the company of former international players. "The confidence and motivation of some of the Indian players playing in this tournament is something to watch for. It is great to see these players learn valuable things here and I am sure four or five years from now they will be playing international cricket," 37-year-old Lara told reporters.
Source : http://www.indiancricketleague.in/
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