Fletcher fixed it for me, says delighted Giles
CricInfo - 31 January 2002
Ashley Giles praised the insight of the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, after taking five wickets as England won a thriller at Delhi to give themselves a chance of squaring the six-match series on Sunday.
"A message came out from the coach to try and tuck up the left-handers around
the wicket and it was a great ploy because it worked," said Giles. "I tried to
fire it in a bit quicker and try and rush them a bit.
"After bowling those first few overs, you're not likely to be rushed back on
that quickly, but I was happy Nass brought me back on to give me another chance
and turned things around for me."
Amid England's delight, Giles' first thought was with his family back at home, where his wife Stine is due to give birth to their second child.
"She's due to give birth in the next couple of weeks but if she's been watching all the excitement here on television, I'm concerned the baby may have come already," Giles joked.
Meanwhile the England captain Nasser Hussain felt that England were always in with a chance ofter posting a competitive total.
"We feel that getting runs on the board is important," added Hussain. "The
pressure of chasing is like having 12 men in the field because you're always
looking at that target and if you lose wickets, new people tend to panic a bit."
Meanwhile the home captain Sourav Ganguly could not hide his disappointment at India's defeat.
"We should have won it," Ganguly said. "We lost four wickets in the space of 20 runs and lost the match."
"Getting runs is great but they count only when you win. I was disappointed when I got out but I felt we should have still won it from there with 60 runs to get in 10 overs," he said.
Ganguly's dismissal was quickly followed by that of Kaif, was was also set at the time, but Ganguly praised the youngster.
"It was his first game, he did a great job. It's a tough game and pressure does funny things to the best of the best. You can't expect someone to be a champion in his first match."
"We'll see how things go in Bombay," Ganguly said. "We want to win the series, not draw it."
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