Kandy Test, Day 4, Close
Saturday, August 25, 2001

Sourav Ganguly came of age as a Test-match batsman today. This date will be emblazoned on his memory forever. He has been around for half a decade now, ever since that hundred on debut in England in 1996. There have been some outstanding performances down the years but none to match this. The 98 runs he scored today will be cherished for a long time to come. He produced this innings when woefully out of form and, more importantly, when his inexperienced team needed it the most. It is every batsman's dream to remain unconquered at the finish and lead his country to victory and it became a reality for Ganguly this afternoon. There were a couple of other heartening things to take from this Test match. Firstly, we won on foreign soil with what is a very depleted side. Secondly, the victory was achieved on a pitch that was tailor-made for the Sri Lankan seam attack. More often than not, India's Test wins have come courtesy of the spinners. This was one of those rare Tests where the seamers - Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad - came to the fore. It augurs well for the immediate future, especially with the South African tour just a month away. Rahul Dravid's resolute batting set up this win and Ganguly delivered the coup de grace. Watching him bat this afternoon, I was reminded of what Arun Lal - someone who has observed him throughout his career - said. "This is a man that knows how to score runs," he told me. There are many batsmen that are obsessed with looking good. Ganguly is more concerned with the making of runs than any cosmetic effects and his innate talent came to his rescue today. His aggressive approach also put the Sri Lankan bowling into perspective and India will go to Colombo high on confidence. Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to Dileep Premachandran.

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