India will bounce back: Ganguly

April 3, 2001

The comprehensive defeat in the fourth one-dayer against Australia in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday has not demoralised the Indians, said captain Sourav Ganguly. The Indian skipper was confident that the team will definitely bounce back in the final match at Goa on Friday.

Talking to reporters after India's 93-run loss, Ganguly said "Every time a team has lost in this series, they have bounced back. We also hope to bounce back in Goa. This has only shown how competitive this series has been. Every team has a right to win and the side that played well today won." He added that his team was not unnerved by the 300-plus score put up by the Aussies.

Apparently the skipper had second thoughts as immediately after the match he said the target weighed heavily on the minds of the Indian team. "We also scored 300 twice in this series (taking into account 299 in Indore) but chasing a big total is definitely a difficult task. We were doing well initially but lost momentum due to the quick loss of wickets after the dismissal of Sachin," he said. "We will have to play to a plan in the next match. It would be back to basics," he added.

The skipper, who failed with the bat yet again today, said he will continue to open the innings. "I am passing through a bad phase. It is for the first time in my five-year career that my lack of form has extended this long. I am trying my best. I hope to strike form in every match and I am hoping for Goa as well," he said.

Later at the post match press conference, the Aussie captain Steve Waugh praised Ricky Ponting for his outstanding innings. Waugh said "It was a great innings. He showed a lot of character. He was having a rough time but we had a lot of faith in him. He delivered today," he said. Defending his rotation policy, Waugh said dropping Matthew Hayden for the third match in Indore was not a mistake. "We have fourteen good players to play for Australia. We do not depend on only one individual... We are looking at the long-term prospects," he said.

Hayden, who completed his maiden one-day century today and won the man-of-the-match award, himself said the break had given him the much needed rest. "The rotation policy is good. I had a well deserved rest. I was able to recover from weariness and was much more focussed today," he said.

Ponting said he had worked on his previous mistakes and it was good to score runs. "It's great to be back in form. I was taking my front foot far across in the earlier game. I rectified it and got runs today. Though it (the runs) has come at the fag end of this tour we still are left with a very important match and I hope to do well there," he said.

© PTI

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Series/Tournaments

Australia tour of India

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India

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Indira Priyadarshini Stadium