A typical Kotla pitch, had fun: Sourav

That topic ended, but new, sensitive ones originated and he was then asked about his being picked ahead of Yuvraj Singh and how the southpaw is fighting for a place in the Test team.

“I’ve been in this situation even before, so there isn’t anything to discuss. But I had the best performance in the team in the last eight to ten months, so when you perform you are rewarded,” Ganguly replied.

He agreed that his fellow left-hander was strongly pushing for a place in the team after his match-winning performances in the one-dayers and the Twenty20 World Cup but the situation of people fighting for places is always there.

“Yuvraj is pushing for a place… but at this level someone will always be knocking on the door for a place. And that’s how it should be. When (Rahul) Dravid and I began, we also were knocking at the door with seniors like (Navjot Singh) Sidhu and others in the team. It is good, because it keeps you on your toes. It is a process and it goes on,” he added.

It was after a while then that the topic of his bowling performance finally came up.

“I had fun bowling, it is always nice because this is one area where I have no pressure. There was moisture on the pitch and it really assisted us.”

Ganguly also rated India’s performance as good, stating that getting eight wickets of the opposition on a “typical Kotla” wicket was excellent, but also gave credit to Misbah-ul Haq and Mohammed Sami for saving the innings from completely collapsing.

“Sami and Misbah batted well under pressure and there’s still a lot of cricket left in this match. We will have to maintain the discipline we showed today,” he added.

Still in ODI mindset, feels Lawson

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson today said that his players have not come out of the one-day mindset and that resulted in the their early collapse against India here. “It’s disappointing that we played ODI shots. The boys are also disappointed because they had a good start which they failed to build on,” Lawson said after the day’s play.

He though defended his batsmen and said he was relaxed at the end of the day. “Probably it’s more relaxing for me because we were 142 for 8 at one stage. They could not take a wicket after tea so that’s a good sign for us. The pitch was not easy to bat in the morning with the ball moving a lot,” he said.

Lawson praised Misbah-ul Haq and Mohammad Sami for helping the team when it was under pressure. “We were slugging at 142/8. But Misbah and Sami gave a good reply. It also gets a bit easier as the ball gets older and Sami followed the instructions given to him well.”

Lawson also praised India’s Sourav Ganguly and said his bowlers needed to do a good job tomorrow. “Ganguly bowled well. We also have to bowl accurately. Even if we bowl straight, it will be tough for us tomorrow.”

Scoreboard

Pakistan first innings:

Salman Butt b Zaheer 1

Yasir Hameed b Kumble 29

Younis Khan c Munaf b Zaheer 7

Mohd Yousuf lbw Ganguly 27

Misbah-ul-Haq batting 71

Shoaib Malik c Dhoni b Patel 0

Kamran Akmal b Kumble 30

Sohail Tanvir lbw Harbhajan 4

Shoaib Akhtar b Kumble 2

Mohammad Sami batting 20

Extras (b-6, lb-11, w-2) 19

Total (8 wkts, 85.4 overs) 210

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-35, 3-59, 4-76, 5-83, 6-122, 7-137, 8-142

Bowling: Zaheer 16-3-36-2, Patel, 20.4-4-54-1, Kumble 20-5-38-3, Ganguly 12-5-24-1, Harbhajan 15-1-37-1, Tendulkar 2-0-4-0