Dubai, Nov 6 (IANS): Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer was in praise of India, saying that they put up a show of high-class execution in their eight-wicket win in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on Friday. He added that his team needs to go through days like this to improve further in the future.
"The experience is everything for our group of players and organisation. Today's result didn't go the way we wanted. It's very important for our guys to experience that and see the high class that was on show today from the Indian team. That was some high-class execution from India today. I am still extremely proud of the guys but we have got a lot of learning to do and we have to go through days like this to improve," said Coetzer in the post-match press conference.
Coetzer pointed out how India made good use of the conditions while bowling first, skittling Scotland for just 85 in 17.4 overs. "They showed how to use the surface and how to execute their yorkers. The spinners had variations and plenty of mystery about some of their bowlers. When you face guys like that for the very first time, which we did today, it was always going to be hard. We have a fantastic group of players and will go from strength to strength after this."
Scotland, who entered the Super 12 stage of the tournament for the first time, are already out of the race for the semi-finals. They will play their last match of Group 2 against table-toppers Pakistan on Sunday. Talking about Sunday's match, Coetzer remarked, "We will go into that game as full of confidence as we possibly can. We took a few heavy punches today, that's for sure and the guys will be hurting. But we will need to pick ourselves up and be prepared for putting up a show in our last game. It's our last opportunity to play a little while of the game of cricket to play together. It's been a good seven weeks or so as a group. We are extremely proud of what we have achieved. It's been an eye-opener at some stages."
The 37-year-old highlighted how cricket in the country can build upon its success of entering the Super 12 stage in the UAE and Oman this year in all aspects. "I hope the years ahead are full of positive movement, not only for us but also in the game to keep growing it as much as possible. It's so exciting to see various teams growing from strength to strength. You look at Oman, how much they have developed in the last couple of years."
"For us at Cricket Scotland, it's brilliant to see how we have managed to see ourselves in Super 12 and qualifying for the next World Cup. There's plenty to look forward to. We can't be happy with just playing a few Super 12 games and going back to home and to our systems that we have there. We need to be brave and push that little bit further and we need support there."