London, July 25: Playing his first Test match at Lord’s, Suresh Raina waged a lone battle against the England pace attack to score 78 runs as India went down to England on Day 5 of the first Test. Top-scoring for India in the second innings, the No. 6 batsman’s brilliant effort came to an end when James Anderson dismissed him caught behind, sealing the fate of the Test.

Excerpts from his post-match interaction with the media:

On the batting conditions

It was not easy to bat but I think we didn’t have enough partnerships in between. Credit goes to [the] England team. When you are [on] the losing side, it is always disappointing but I think they played better than us.

On whether injury / fitness issues (Zaheer Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir were unfit at various points) played a big part in India’s loss

Definitely, but you can’t worry about injury. It incidentally happened in our side. It would have been different if Zaheer had bowled in the second innings. We don’t have to worry about that but credit goes to them. They bowled well, they batted really well. We didn’t have a fourth bowler. It is always painful when we don’t have a fourth bowler but still I think we fought really well in the second innings. Ishant [Sharma] bowled a magnificent spell, especially in the second innings.

On whether the team needed more days to acclimatise to the conditions

I played here when I was 16 [years], I came with the Under -19 team in 2002 and I also played in Manchester A& T club so I have good experience here. It is always difficult to score runs in England but if you do hard work on the other side, you will definitely get runs.

On the effect this innings has had on his morale

God has been really kind. I was honoured to play this Test match with all the senior legendary players like Sachin [Tendulkar], Rahul [Dravid] [VVS] Laxman bhai; it was [a] treat to watch them, especially at Lords. It’s been nice [and I am] hitting the ball [well]. Hopefully we’ll come back strongly in Nottinghamshire.