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Ganguly blames injury factor for loss
Affirming that his team during the Australian tour put up a good performance, Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly has said "we could have played better".
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:05 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Kolkata:
Describing the Australian tour as an "outstanding series", Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly today said here that the loss in the finals of the triangular series was due to injury to the top bowlers. "It was an outstanding series despite the loss in the finals of tri-series," Ganguly, who reached here this morning after the arduous tour of Australia, told newsmen at the airport. Ganguly claimed that, "it was the best ever Indian team to tour Australia. Nobody had dominated the Test series in the past as we did." To a query on the debacle in the finals, the Indian skipper attributed it to the injury factor, which robbed the visitors the services of two of their best bowlers. Asked whether injuries were responsible for the team's bad performance towards the end of the long tour, Ganguly said, "Yes, the injury factor did hamper our performance in the one-dayers. We missed a few key players but we played to the best of our capabilities." The Indian captain, however, complimented the Australian team for their convincing win in the VB series saying, "I must say that in the finals we were beaten by a superior side which outplayed us." To a query whether the tight schedule of the long tour had anything to do with the performance, he said, "it was a long tour but we knew about it in advance. The itinerary was not a problem, it was pre-planned." Ganguly said that the Indian team gained a lot from the tour as a number of youngsters like rookie pacers Irfan Pathan and Laxmipathy Balaji emerged from the series. Asked about reports that he had expressed security concerns for the forthcoming Pakistan tour, the Indian skipper avoided any clear cut answer saying the matter would be decided on the basis of a report by a Cricket Board delegation now in Pakistan. "A delegation has gone to see security arrangements. We have to wait and see what is its report. It is too early to comment on the issue," Ganguly said. A three-member BCCI delegation headed by Joint Secretary Ratnakar Shetty is in Pakistan to oversee the security arrangements at all the venues. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
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