Solanki was sorry he was not able to ‘finish the job’ on Wednesday

Nottingham: India-born England batsman Vikram Solanki has a yearning to do more despite his half century for his adopted land during their emphatic win over his country of origin in the first NatWest Challenge one-dayer at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

“I was a little disappointed as I was not there when we won the game — I would liked to have been there in the end to finish the job,” said Solanki.

The right-handed opening batsman said he had been fairly confident his team would emerge victorious after they had got the Indians out for 170.

“I was just trying to do the best I could do — but I was fairly confident after we got them out for 170,” he said. “I enjoyed the fact that we won… it is very important to enjoy good performances.”

Solanki praised Alex Wharf for his role in India’s poor batting performance as the Glamorgan cricketer took three wickets for eight runs from 14 balls.

“Wharf had a fantastic debut. I am sure he had some nerves but he grabbed this opportunity and took some critical wickets,” Solanki said.

However, he didn’t want to harp on his Indian origin — he was born in Udaipur — and said he would have enjoyed this performance against any opponents of England.

“It didn’t matter who the opposition was, we would have enjoyed it as much if it was against any other side in the world.”

The Worcestershire batsman wasn’t upset because there was a fair bit of Indian support in the stands. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion — as for me, I am fortunate to be playing for England.”

Solanki said the performance of England’s Test team had been a contributing factor in Wednesday’s win. “We took a lot of confidence from our Tests going into this game.”