Sourav Ganguly: A bit of aggression is always good
Santhosh S - 23 December 2001

Sourav Ganguly 28k John Wright 28k

India's 1-0 Test series win over England has provided Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly with another series win.

After the final day's play was called off Ganguly and John Wright answered a few queries from the media.

Wright by then must have known that his contract had been renewed along with that of trainer Andrew Leipus, but Ganguly had something to worry about - the chairman of selectors Chandu Borde told the press that he is worried about Ganguly's batting form.

Ganguly was confronted with that question and admitted that he is also worried about his form.

"I have struggled through the year in the longer version of the game. I have a break after this and I hope to sort out and come back stronger.

"With the standards that have been set in the last six years, my batting in Tests is a bit worrying. I have done well in ODI's but I have to do better in Test cricket.

"There has been no slump in form as such, I have been getting out in the 40s too many number of times and that is a matter of concern. It is ok getting out without being set or getting a start," he said.

Reflecting on India's performance in the series, Ganguly said: "I thought we played well in Mohali to win the first Test match.

"We played well to save the Ahmedabad Test and a lot of play was washed out in this Test so I can't say a lot more than that."

Ganguly made a critical study of his team's performance too.

"Batting needs to be a bit more consistent and not enough runs are being scored by the batsmen. I thought we bowled pretty well: Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble and Tinu Yohannan bowled very well."

Ganguly considers that the toss was a vital factor in his team not doing so well in the last two Tests.

"There was no complacency, the toss was the vital factor in both the Test matches, which unfortunately we lost."

Ganguly reasoned that India could have batted first had they won the toss and made good use of the batting conditions.

"The wicket started turning on the fourth and fifth day. We were not totally outplayed but they had the upper hand."

The Indian captain is not too happy with the pitches that were made available for the Test matches, which did not favour the home side as much as expected.

Ganguly said that is for the curator to decide and he is helpless about the situation. He was also added that the curator had told him that the pitch in Bangalore would take spin from day one but on the contrary it helped the seamers more.

When discussing England captain Nasser Hussain's tactics to curtail the flow of runs by asking Giles to bowl outside the leg, Ganguly said, "We have all seen how they play their cricket. They have their own way of playing the game. They have an obvious strategy and stuck to that, sometimes it was negative and sometimes it was positive. To get 20 wickets a bit more attacking is needed."

"All I can say is that India is a place for the spinners to have a go. They could have been a bit more attacking, that is how Nasser has played the game.

"I don't think it is right for me to say too much on that. He obviously has studied the Indian batsmen and how well they play in India."

No matter what the controversy about Hussain's tactics were, Ganguly was quick in complimenting him.

"I think he did pretty well in the last two matches."

That is a remarkable statement from the Indian skipper given the problems the teams had on the field with each other.

Ganguly added that it got a bit tough on the field but said the players were friendly off the field.

"A bit of aggression is always good. I have always said that."

When asked about India's wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta, Ganguly said that Dasgupta had a good outing in South Africa and in India, except for a one-off Test match, which he claimed all players went through.

The Indian skipper was impressed with all the hard work Dasgupta put into his game, "I think he is doing pretty well for India."

Indian team coach John Wright also answered questions.

The soft-spoken Kiwi was asked whether his players failed to put the plans into practice.

His answer was a bit differenet.

Cricket was a simple game and one should stick to the basics and he did not interfere with what happened in the middle.

"As a coach that is not my style," he said.

Wright lamented the dropped catches in the series as well as too many soft dismissals in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

He also felt that surrendering an almost 100-run lead effectively put India on the back foot.

Wright gave credit to the English batsmen, including James Foster and the tail, for taking the score to 336 after being 240/6 at one stage.

The Kiwi too was asked about Giles' bowling. Wright noted that the only difference between Warne's bowling and Giles' was that the Englishman was getting the ball to bounce more, which makes the scoring options difficult.

Wright said: "When you have the best player in the world struggling, it is not easy to counter such tactics."

He also added that whether restricting the scoring options made cricket a spectacle was debatable.

The Englishmen will be back in the middle of January to play the One-Day Internationals and that will be different ball game.

Ganguly and Wright have a lot of thinking to do to keep up the winning ways in front of an adoring home crowd.