Hussain: I am not fussed about moral victories
Anand Vasu - 15 December 2001

© AFP

Nasser Hussain and Sourav Ganguly, in many ways, make an excellent study in contrasts. One is affable, has a good command of the language, and opens up effortlessly at press conferences. The other is capable of pretty much the same yet sometimes chooses to sulk just a bit, leaving scribes pretty much without any material even after a 15-minute dialogue. At the end of the second Test at Motera, Ahmedabad, drawn at the end of five long days in the sun, both teams left empty-handed. It certainly appeared, though, that England had come away from the game with more positives. Excerpts from Hussain's chat with the press.

On the fact that England did not declare their second innings soon enough:

The fact that we did not declare had nothing to do with losing the series here. It had nothing to do with the illnesses to bowlers; none of our bowlers were ill. It was mainly because of the nature of the wicket. I did not think that the wicket was as bad as everyone was making it out to be. Our bowling line-up is an inexperienced one, and the bowlers have toiled and toiled. Ashley Giles was coming back from a lay-off, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff had niggles. I thought it was a pretty fair target that we set India on a flat wicket.

On whether England had won a moral victory:

I am not fussed about moral victories. I just want us to be as good as we can be. And I thought for five days this side was as good as it can be, and that is all I can ask of them. I was very pleased with them, so we will enjoy this moment.

On whether he disappointed with the team after losing the Mohali Test:

I was not too annoyed with the team after the last Test at Mohali. It is an inexperienced side, and the last Test was a real eye-opener for a lot of us. We have been able to work hard and adapt to the conditions here. We will have to do a lot more of that if we are to be competitive at Bangalore. Let us not get too high just because we have had five good days here.

On whether England can square the series at Bangalore:

We have still got to work out a way of getting 20 wickets if we want to win a Test match. The last two wickets that we have played on showed how hard that can be. I do not know what the wicket is going to be like at Bangalore. What was gratifying was the fact that, in this particular Test match, there was only an hour in our first innings when we did not control the game. And obviously, when Mr. Tendulkar was batting after lunch the other day.

On what it required for the England team to bounce back after the loss at Mohali:

Self-belief and understanding that you can get runs or wickets here, and that you have to have a plan. The key to doing well out here is having a gameplan and putting it into practice. In the first Test match, we did that with the ball but did not with the bat. Here we did it with both bat and ball. That has comes from spending time at the crease and understanding the wicket.

On the sudden departure of Graham Thorpe:

In the ideal world, I would sit here and say "We did it for Thorpe," but in India, that only gets you about one percent. Without being too emotional, he is a very popular member of our side. We wish him well, and the sooner he comes back playing for us the better.

On England's chances of squaring the series:

I do not make predictions at all. As you have seen from our performances in the past, it is very difficult to predict. That is the best this side can play. I do not mean this in a negative or defeatist sort of way. If we do that again, we will put us in a chance of winning again in Bangalore. If we do anything less than that, we will finish second best.

On England's improvement in playing the Indian spinners:

We played the spinners pretty well here, but I am not going to get too excited about it. We might go to the next match, find a wicket that helps the spinners and not play them so well there. They are good bowlers, and I am sure that they will have a trick or two up their sleeves.