da doce： Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright felt that therewas still scope for improvement in the team’s performance which todaydefeated Zimbabwe for the second straight time to reach the final ofthe triangular series
28-Jun-2001Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright felt that therewas still scope for improvement in the team’s performance which todaydefeated Zimbabwe for the second straight time to reach the final ofthe triangular series.”We got to pull things up. We gave away 90 runs in the last 10 overswhich were far too many to give away on this track,” said Ganguly,whose 85, a wicket and a catch played a crucial role in India’svictory.”We started well in the morning session but we didn’t bowl well in thelast 10 overs. We could have bowled a lot better with the ball seamingaround on this wicket."On the mini Indian collapse, Ganguly said, "we were 184 for two whenI got out and then we lost four wickets. I would not say they werepoor shots but rather wrong ones. We need to pull ourselves up.”I thought I played a shot which I normally play well against theleft-arm spinners. But yes, we could have applied ourselves better. Iam still not in the best of form, I am not playing at my best. Still,it is better to get some runs. I think I got stuck a bit at the startbut then it was not an easy wicket to bat on.”Coach John Wright was more critical and said the team has an “awful”lot to learn from this win.”Honestly, if you look at the performance and not the result, we needto play lot better than that. I think it was a disappointingperformance. We won a toss which gave us a big advantage and Zimbabwewas a side without its two key players. So we really should havebeaten them easily. We nearly threw it away with some poor shots andalso we gave far too many runs in the field. If we need to becompetitive against the West Indies, I think there is awful lot towork upon. There were far too many extras conceded. Considering thatwe got two wickets in the first over, these guys still got 235 whenbatting conditions were difficult. We got to a winning position andthen we lost Ganguly and a few quick wickets. It just goes to show ifa partnership is broken, you lose a few more quick wickets. We shouldhave a habit of finishing teams off, either in the field or with thebat. Otherwise you would not be consistent in this form of cricket.”The coach said he was happy that Ganguly got runs at last. “I am happyhe got runs and he can now get it off his head and as for Dravid, heplayed just beautifully.”Dravid, who for his 72 unbeaten runs off 64 balls was named man of thematch, said even though he has batted quite well on this tour, hehadn’t played a match-winning innings until now.”When I got in here this time, I was very determined to play that kindof knock. I have been batting well so I decided to play straight andhit it hard. There were a lot of gaps and it is a big ground and youcan find the gaps quite easily and that really helped. When Ajit(Agarkar) came, we still required a run a ball and I said to him thereis no need to panic. If we bat till the end, we will win. I knew bothof us can play shots and we needed just one good over and it came inthe left-arm spinner’s and then Ajit hit a few shots and settled theissue.”