Ganguly seeks Gavaskar's advice to tide over batting blues
Staff Reporter - 8 April 2001
The captain of the Indian cricket team Saurav Ganguly said on his
return to Kolkata on Saturday night that he will seek the advice of
Sunil Gavaskar on his batting. Although Ganguly led the Indian team
to a great Test series win against Australia, he failed with the bat,
averaging 17.66 in the Tests and 18.6 in the one-dayers. The only
notable contributions from his bat were a knock of 48 in the second
innings of the Kolkata Test and the 74 that he scored in the final
one-day match at Goa. "I did not express my pain simply because the
Australians would have taken advantage of it. However, I really felt
bad because of the batting failures. The entire team was contributing
and as the captain, I had nothing to offer. And then again the only
match that I scored some runs India lost," said Ganguly.
Ganguly feels that there may be some problems as far as technique
goes. And for that reason he would like to meet Sunil Gavaskar. "He is
the best person to approach. I will definitely request him to help me
out." However, there is another reason for which he wants to meet up
with Gavaskar: to thank him for his inspiring columns. "When the
entire media had been criticizing us, he was the only person to
constantly inspire the team. He was always very supportive. His words
were always very encouraging and for that I would like to thank him on
behalf of the team," said Ganguly. It was here that he also praised
the Australian media for the way they stood by their side. "I am not
saying that they were always very fair. But they way they tried to
help their side, was really very good. I wish our media acted in the
same manner."
For the moment, it will be rest for Ganguly. However, in this period,
he will work hard at the nets to erase the faults in his batting. "I
have only one target at present. That is to score some runs and
achieve an away win in the series against Zimbabwe. To achieve that I
am really going to work very hard." Ganguly also stated that he always
felt the Indians had a chance against Australia. "Simply because, I
knew that they were weak against off-spin and I had tremendous faith
in the abilities of Harbhajan Singh. He is really a class player and
he will also succeed in the shorter version of the game as he did in
the Test series. Like V.V.S. Laxman did. He is also a class act and he
proved it by coming good in the Tests and the one-dayers."
Meanwhile, the Indian coach John Wright in an interview to a Kolkata
daily has stated that he would like to have an `intense six-day
conditioning camp' just before the away series against Zimbabwe.
Wright, who will be off to New Zealand very shortly to enjoy a holiday
has also stated that he would like to work on the fitness levels and
the fielding of the Indian cricketers. "The Australians were the
perfect example of quality fitness. Look at Glenn McGrath. He played
all three Tests and five one-dayers. It just goes to show how good
they were as far as physical endurance was concerned."
Wright also stated that the team would have to work on handling the
first 15 overs and the last 10 overs of the innings more productively.
"There are certain shortcomings during these two periods. I have noted
them and plan to work on them so that as a team we achieve more
success." He added that he would like to have players in the team with
an `attitude'. And as an example Wright mentioned the names of Samir
Dighe and Virendra Shewag. "Even after a horrendous experience behind
the stumps, Dighe batted like a champion during the second innings at
Chennai. Shewag bowled with a broken finger in Bangalore. It is this
never say die spirit that differentiates between winning and losing."
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