Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly said his team8217;s refusal to give up even when they had their backs to the wall helped them overcome South Africa in the icc Champions Trophy semi-final here tonight.
8220;We played fantastically. The best point about our cricket in the last 10 months has been that we have not given up, we have always fought back,8221; Ganguly told the media after they bottled up the South African batsmen in the end overs to run away victors by 10 runs.
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We threw it: Pollock
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A crestfallen South African skipper Shaun Pollock admitted that his side had thrown away a game they ought to have won. 8220;We threw away the game, but all credit to India, they didn8217;t give up,8221; Pollock said. 8220;We8217;ve only ourselves to blame. May this will not happen again,8221; he said. He said it was a stroke of misfortune for his side that Herschelle Gibbs suffered from cramps and was forced to retire. 8220;He couldn8217;t grip the bat with either hand,8221; he said. Gibbs had given a brilliant display to take them close to the target. 8220;We just failed to finish it off,8221; he said, ruefully. The premature exit of Gibbs had a pretty big impact, and there was a brilliant catch, he said, in an apparent reference to the dismissal of Jonty Rhodes to a fine catch by Yuvraj at short fine-leg. India8217;s score of 261 for nine was not a big one, and was certainly 8216;8216;gettable8221;, he said. Pollock was clear that his batsmen had not underestimated the Indian bowlers, but had just failed to finish the job. |
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8220;We got an opportunity when Gibbs went off,8221; Ganguly said. He praised India8217;s fielders and bowlers for performing well under pressure, and singled out Yuvraj Singh for taking two brilliant catches.
8220;We were down, but not out we knew that if we get a couple of wickets, we always had a chance to come back into the game, as it will be difficult for new batsmen on this wicket, which was turning and bouncing,8221; Ganguly said. 8220;We worked hard till the end, I think that8217;s the key in this match.8221;
Ganguly said India had scored at least 20 runs short after batting first. The moment that he thought India had won the match was when South Africa needed about 40 runs in the last four overs.
Now that India were in the final, Ganguly did not want to be reminded of the string of defeats India had suffered in the finals of tournaments involving more than two teams. 8220;We have won almost every game this year. Let us not think of the past.8221;
On Virender Sehwag8217;s five-over spell that stopped the South African run chase in its tracks, Ganguly said Sehwag was not a regular bowler in the pool and that he could probably had been brought on earlier. 8220;I relied on Sachin to get the wickets, but it didn8217;t work.8221;
Virender Sehwag was happy that he stuck to the task assigned to him. He said he was not rattled when Jacques Kallis swung him over mid-wicket for a six off the first ball of the 50th over. 8220;We had fielders placed on the boundary line, and I knew that they can get caught if they try again.8221;
He was bemused by a question on how he could remain unruffled under pressure, whether he was batting or bowling. 8220;Perhaps, this quality is there since my birth,8221; he managed to say.
Sehwag struck a half-century marked by his usual belligerence, and returned a match-winning figure of three for 25, bowling five continuous overs from the 42nd onwards.
