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Bowlers cost us the World Cup: Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly said his much-vaunted pace trio's inability to find the right length had cost India a chance of winning the World Cup against Australia.
Sourav Ganguly said his much-vaunted pace trio's inability to find the right length had cost India a chance of winning the World Cup against defending champions Australia here at the Wanderers on Sunday.
"They bowled too short on that wicket," the Indian captain Ganguly told reporters after his side were crushed by 125 runs in a one-sided final.
India veteran Javagal Srinath and youthful left-armers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra saw their combined 27 wicketless overs go for 211 runs after Ganguly sent Australlia to bat in the morning.
Australia piled up a World Cup final record 359 for two and then bowled India out for 234.
Ganguly, however, insisted he had made the right call.
"There was quite a bit in the wicket early on if we had put the ball in the right places. You saw in the afternoon that 300 was chaseable," he said.
The first over of the match, bowled by Zaheer, went for 15 runs and set the tone for what followed.
"It was a very poor start and it kept on going after that," Ganguly said.
By then it was too late.
"359 is a big total. It was always going to be a really Herculean task. Getting seven, seven and-a-half-an-over is never easy," Ganguly said.
But the Indian captain insisted he was nevertheless proud of his side despite the way in which Australia became the first team to win three World Cups, stretching their world record of consecutive one-day international wins to 17 in the process.
"We've played well. And the important thing is that we've learned to play as a unit."
If India were to have a chance of overhauling Australia's total they needed a major innings from Sachin Tendulkar.
But the man of the tournament, with a World Cup record 673 runs, managed just four.
"I'm extremely disappointed," said Tendulkar, who like the rest of the team was appearing in his first World Cup final - India had only been this far before when they won in 1983.
"I thought after winning the toss we had a fair chance but everybody has an off-day.
"Being man of the series, I'd prefer it if we won today," he added.
Tendulkar paid tribute to Australia captain Ricky Ponting's match-winning 140 not out - the highest individual innings in a World Cup final.
"I thought Ponting (who put on an unbroken 234 with Damien Martyn) played an important role," Tendulkar said.
"Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden gave them a good start (the openers shared a 100 stand in just 92 balls) and Ponting at first just got ones and twos.
"But in the last 15 overs they scored close to 170 runs. I surely rate this (Ponting's) innings as one of the best."
