India's captain Rahul Dravid admitted that Saturday's dramatic one-run defeat to West Indies hurt in the second One-day International, but there was plenty for his side to gain from the experience.
Dwayne Bravo bowled Yuvraj Singh with the third-last ball of the match at Sabina Park to hand West Indies a heart-stopping victory that levelled the five-match series at 1-1, after India had won the first ODI by five wickets with one ball to spare on Thursday.
Chasing a modest 199 to win, India needed 11 runs off the last over with the last pair of Yuvraj and Munaf Patel at the crease.
The two batsmen scrambled a single off the first delivery, and Yuvraj collected two successive boundaries to put India within touching distance.
Yuvraj however, failed to finish the game off, when Bravo bowled him with a slower delivery with the next ball to spark massive celebrations around the ground.
"At one stage, we did not look like we would have gotten this close because we were struggling at one stage," Dravid told reporters after the match.
"It does hurt to lose, but we have to accept these things. We are going to lose a few games, but we have to pick ourselves up, and go into the next game and do better. We have done really well so far, so there is no reason to panic because we lost.
"I do not think it is totally disheartening for anyone in the dressing room. The guys know we can do better and there are areas in which we can get tighter and keep improving. This has been our goal all the time and it will be something that we'll try to keep doing." Although Yuvraj failed to complete the job, Dravid described the left-hander's innings as one of the finest he had seen from an Indian batsman when the side was chasing a target under pressure.
"He was just a bit unlucky in the end of what could have been a great innings," Dravid said.
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