Ganguly concerned over India's inability to dismiss tailenders

August 26, 2001

Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today praised his fast bowlers for the discipline they showed in the second Test but said something needed to be done about their seeming inability to polish off the tail. "I think it is creating a bit of a problem for us. We will try to do something about this (in the third Test) in Colombo," he said referring to Muthiah Muralitharan's blistering knock of 67 which enabled Sri Lanka to fight back from 157 for nine to 221 in their second innings.

Ganguly rated his own match-winning knock of 98 as one of the better ones and said his prolonged poor run with the bat had been hurting him. "I think it is one of my better Test knocks because it helped India win," Ganguly said referring to his brilliant knock which tool India to a seven-wicket win in the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Ganguly, who had gone without a half-century in the last 13 innings in a frustrating poor trot, finally got his act together and played a brilliant innings yesterday. "The lack of runs was very upsetting, especially since I am the captain," he said. Ganguly's scintillating knock was blemished by two dropped catches but the Indian captain felt it was only justified as he has had a number of hard decisions in the recent past. "It's all equal now."

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya refused to accept that Kandy was a jinxed venue for his team which has lost the last three matches on this ground. Every time they have squandered a 1-0 lead taken in Galle. "We can't complain about this venue. Just because we are not playing well, we can't put the blame on the venue," he said.

Jayasuriya insisted that it was below-par performance by the batsmen that let the team down. "This is bound to happen if the batsmen are not performing. We got a lead of 42 runs in the first innings and then threw it away," said the captain who himself failed to impress scoring three and six in the two innings.

He said the turning point of the match was when Sri Lanka lost four wickets in the opening session on the third day and hoped that in the deciding Test in Colombo, his team would come up with a performance similar to the one in the first Test in Galle. "We have to play positive cricket in Colombo, like we did in Galle. The batsmen have a big responsibility," he concluded.

© PTI

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