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Indian manager Lalchand Rajput said on Saturday a crushing 2-4 series defeat against Australia last month helped his team for the current assignment against Pakistan.

“We lost the series against Australia but it did us a lot of good and in fact made the job easier for this series,” Rajput, a former India Test player, told reporters here at the Swai Mansingh Stadium ahead of the final One-day International (ODI) game against Pakistan to be played today. India have an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-game series.

The Aussies proved too good for the Indians, winning the series in an emphatic manner. But Rajput said his charges learnt a lot from defeat and showed a vast improvement against the Pakistanis.

Rajput, 45, hailed his team for the sealing the series but agreed that India still need to improve their fielding.

“This is an area of concern for us,” he said. “I do believe that we have improved our fielding but there is still room for further improvement,” he added.

Speaking on Sachin Tendulkar and his habit of falling in the nineties, Rajput said he was confident that the master blaster will soon take his tally of centuries to 42.

“It was really saddening to see Sachin missing a century yet again in the Gwalior match but I’m sure that he would hit one quite soon,” he added.

Source:Cricket News