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Victory, sweet victory: Ganguly
Because it came after a couple of setbacks. It was the right tonic.
Victory, sweet victory. Sweet because it came after a couple of setbacks. And it had to be at Lord's in the NatWest Challenge series. I have so many fond memories of both. Even though we had lost the series, the win helped us to get back into the winning frame of mind. It is just the right tonic for the boys before the ICC Champions Trophy. It was a good toss to win on what was essentially a second-day wicket.
I say this because Pakistan and Australia had played a one-dayer on the same pitch the day before. It looked like a 250-run wicket, and the condition of the pitch was quite good, prompting me to opt for batting first. We shuffled our batting order a bit for this game.
Virender Sehwag's lack of form is a cause for concern, so we tried to take some pressure off him by sending him down the order. We felt it would help him relax a bit before walking out to the middle.
It didn't quite work for him, but it was worth an effort. I guess we will have to figure out another suitable combination.
We didn't get the start we wanted, but after being 141 for four in 34 overs -- It was nice to get a few runs -- I thought we should have gone on to post a 250-plus score. We lost momentum towards the end and the final charge didn't materialise. The whole world knows what this batting line-up is capable of, but we failed to deliver yet again.
It was a very comfortable feeling when we went out to defend 204. Our new-ball bowlers needed to strike early if we were to make a match of it. And how well Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra bowled! They bowled with a lot of fire and derived a great deal of movement to put the Englishmen in all sorts of trouble. The four wickets they picked early, along with Collinwood's run-out, paved the way for our victory.
We knew the Englishmen would struggle against our quality spin attack. Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble made the issue safe. Overall, I was pleased with our body language on the field. As the captain, it was very heartening see the boys regain a spring in their steps.
Even though it was not a big total, the boys were determined to win the game and gave it their best shot. It worked. I have always found that teams from the sub-continent take a little time to get used to the conditions in England. Now that we have got three good games under our belt, all we need is fine-tuning before the Champions Trophy gets under way.
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