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Journalism of Courage
One win, and Team India are bubbling with self confidence again. Till the victory at Headingley yesterday, staying afloat in the seven-match one-day series against England was looking tough. But now, Rahul Dravid and his Men in Blue are smelling a series triumph.
And supporting the skipper’s view was Man of the Match Sourav Ganguly, who said India had it in them to bounce back.
Literally looking down the barrel, the Indian top order fired in unison as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni fashioned a 38-run win (Duckworth/Lewis method was applied) to keep their hopes alive in the series.
“I thought we batted beautifully. It was a good all-round batting performance and a great start again from Sachin and Sourav,” Dravid said after the match. “It’s nice to go to London with a chance to win the series,” he said.
Both teams now move to London to play the last two matches at The Oval (Sept 5) and Lord’s (Sept 8).
“It was a perfect batting performance. We needed a big score because we knew D/L method would come into play,” Dravid said. “Sachin and Sourav gave us a strong start, Gautam Gambhir sustained the tempo and Yuvraj then finished with a flourish.”
His opposite number, Paul Collingwood, said the target was stiff but the conditions were not that bad. “When an opposition gets 320-odd you are always going to question it. It was overcast but the ball didn’t do as much as I thought it would. “But give a lot of credit to Tendulkar and Ganguly, it was hard to stop them,” he said.
To make it worse for the hosts, Ravi Bopara injured his thumb while trying to catch Gautam Gambhir off his own bowling. England already are dealing with injury concerns as Andrew Flintoff is nursing a recurring ankle injury.
Ganguly celebrated his 300th ODI in style, with a Man of the Match performance. He followed up his well-paced 59-run knock with a two-wicket haul to emerge as India’s unlikely bowling hero.
“I had good starts but didn’t convert them. I have been consistent though,” Ganguly said of his batting. While he was elated with his show with the ball, Ganguly said Mahendra Singh Dhoni deserves credit too, for effecting six dismissals in the match to equal world record.
“He was the only guy catching the ball today,” he said, referring to a few dropped catches. “We lost a game we should have won at Old Trafford. But a lot of teams have won three games in a row, we have done it before and hopefully we can do it again,” said Ganguly. “If we play one more good game at The Oval, Lord’s will be anybody’s game.”
About yesterday’s match, he said: “The wicket did seam around a bit and it helped my sort of bowling. It was a lightning quick outfield and the ball was getting wet which wasn’t helping so it was good to be on the winning side,” he said.
