It's a great relief: Ganguly

By Our Special Correspondent

BULAWAYO, JUNE 28. A new hair-cut brought good luck to Sourav Ganguly. Shedding hair fetched him invaluable runs and the Indian skipper dedicated the innings to his team.

``It's a great relief - to have scored runs and that too for a winning cause,'' remarked Ganguly. ``All I had in mind when I walked out to bat was a prayer that the ball hit the middle of my bat. There had been too many edges in the preceding matches and I was very, very determined that I play a decent knock today,'' said Ganguly.

Ganguly did not agree that the middle-order collapse resulted from a series of poor strokes. ``Well, I thought I played a shot which I normally play well against the left-arm spinner. Then we lost wickets to a flurry of shots, I wouldn't say poor but rather wrong shots. We could have applied ourselves better.''

Coach John Wright seemed to disagree with Ganguly. He said, ``we very nearly threw it away with some poor shots. We also gave away far too many runs in the field. But I'm pleased for Sourav. It's good he has got it off his mind, I hope he continues in this way for the rest of the tournament. Rahul was in splendid touch and produced an innings which we needed. But I think it was a disappointing performance to be honest.''

Putting things in perspective Wright said, ``we won the toss which gave us a big advantage and we should have beaten this side easily. Zimbabwe was without two key players. We won and I'm very pleased with it, but to be honest, if you look at the performance and not the result, we need to play a lot better than that. We've to be competitive against the West Indies. I think there's a awful lot to work on.'' On India's fielding and bowling, Wright did not hide his displeasure. ``We conceded far too many extras, considering we got two wickets in the second over. Those guys still get 234 when batting conditions were difficult. We got to a winning position and then we lost Sourav and a few quick wickets. It just goes to show if you lose a partnership you lose a few wickets in a flurry. We should have this habit of finishing teams off, either in the field or with the bat. Otherwise you would not be consistent in this form of cricket.''

Ganguly also came down heavily on the bowlers. ``We started well but didn't bowl well in the last 10 overs. We gave away 90 runs which are far too many to give away on this track. We were 184 for two when I got out and then we lost four wickets. We just need to pull ourselves up and get better. We are now in the final and we must aim to win it.''

On his batting Ganguly said, ``I'm still not playing at my best. Still it is better to get some runs. I think I got stuck a bit at the start but then it was not an easy wicket to bat too.''

Man of the match Rahul Dravid was obviously pleased at having played a match-winning innings. ``I've batted quite well on this tour but like I said earlier, I hadn't played a match- winning innings. So when I got in here this time, I was very determined to play that kind of knock. I decided to play straight and hit hard. There were a lot of gaps and it's a big ground where you can find the gaps quite easily. That really helped.''

The Indian vice-captain agreed there were a few areas which needed attention. ``There were a few things we could learn from but a win is a win and you take it when it comes. That's the thing about one-day cricket. There could be phases when you lose a few quick wickets. The batsmen in the middle today were quite young and they would learn. May be we were relaxed a bit, but we pulled it back which is creditable.''

What did he tell Ajit Agarkar when he joined him in a crucial period. ``We were still in a run-a-ball situation and I said to him there's no need to panic. If we batted till the end we would win. I knew both of us could play shots and we needed just one good over and it came in the Grant Flower's. Then Ajit hit a few shots and settled the issue.''

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