My dismissal cost us the match, and I was not out, says Saurav

FARIDABAD, MARCH 15: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly created a flutter in the press conference by saying I wasn't out'', referring to his ...

FARIDABAD, MARCH 15: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly created a flutter in the press conference by saying “I wasn’t out”, referring to his caught-behind decision off South African paceman Steve Elworthy on 56, when he was whacking the Proteas bowler over the field. He said his dismissal, when he was well into his stride, and the fact that India could not score another 20 or 30 runs were the main reasons for India’s defeat.

Even in the morning Saurav had made it clear that he differed with the umpire when he was ruled out but what was surprising was that he chose to reiterate it at the post-match conference. It is unusual for a captain to comment on dismissals, especially when the ICC code of conduct restricts players from speaking against umpiring. Saurav was playing brilliantly when he tried to leg-glance Elworthy and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher gloved the ball. Ganguly looked surprised when the umpire’s hand went up. He stood his ground momentarily before making his way to the pavilion and on the way seemed to tell the umpire that he did not make contact. Television replays showed the ball clearly deviating after it went past Ganguly’s bat but he was clear that it had not hit the bat. Ganguly’s reaction prompted the commentators to wonder if it would amount to an expression of dissent which could open him up for punitive action from the match referee.

But South African skipper Hansie Cronje was unwilling to let anything take the credit away from Elworthy and his own decision to bring back the latter after the first 15 overs — which he said was a well thought-out plan. “It was a small ground and it was not easy to defend, so at the end of the period, we brought back Elworthy and it worked — he got the wicket,” Cronje said.

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“We were confident from the start about getting to any score under 250. Once we reached a run rate of five, we just needed one long partnership and things worked out,” he added.

Cronje said he was a little worried when Sachin came on as “Sachin backs himself against us. He’s done it before and the ball was spinning and skidding. But the pitch played better than expected.”

Ganguly agreed that the track played fine despite his fears on match eve about the uneven bounce. He also thought that the run outs of Sunil Joshi and Robin Singh were crucial to India not getting those extra runs. Cronje was of the same mind. “I was worried when Sunil Joshi got going that way. He plays like Pat Sympcox. His innings took the game away from us a little then.” Cronje also belived that if Herschelle Gibbs had held on to the catch of Rahul Dravid (who went on to top score for India), “we could have got them under 200”.

While the Indian skipper said that the hosts were looking forward to clinching the five-match series with Javagal Srinath back in the side for the last two matches, his South African counterpart was very positive on how his team would perform. “We’ve got every bit of momentum back and we always do well in big game situations,” said Cronje.