da cassino： Sourav Ganguly and Lou Vincent were much talked about on the final day of the Ahmedabad Test
Wisden Cricinfo staff23-Jun-2005Sourav Ganguly and Lou Vincent were much talked about on the final day of the Ahmedabad Test. Ganguly, for letting things drift and being unable to force a win; Vincent, for his mastery of the conditions and the Indian spinners. Here’s what they had to say:Sourav Ganguly
On India’s bowling performance: I thought we bowled pretty well. The pitch got slower and slower as the game progressed, and there was notmuch help for the bowlers. I thought they tried very hard.On the surface: It’s the responsibility of the BCCI pitches committeeto prepare wickets accordingly, which they have not done here.On the pressure on India at Mohali: I thought we dominated them here, so there won’t be too much pressure. It will be a different surface inMohali, and if we can put up the runs on the board, we should win. But to win the series, we have to win there, so that’s the bottomline.On his groin infection: The infection has not healed very much, but it isbetter than on the first day. We’ll have to wait for a couple of days to see.On why he started off proceedings on the fourth daywith Kumble and Balaji: There wasn’t much for the spinners, and I thoughtBalaji bowled well in this Test. He had gotten RobbieHart the night before and had troubled Paul Wiseman afew times. He brought the ball into the batsman too. Ithought he bowled well and was unlucky not to getwickets.On the playing XI for Mohali: Playing five specialist bowlers is definitely a thought. With Ajit Agarkar coming in for the injuredAavishkar Salvi, we can afford that. But we’ll have towait and see the pitch before decidingLou Vincent
On his innings: In the morning it was a pretty tough situation. Indiahad 18 overs at us last night and went all out to get a few wickets. After Zaheer Khan performed well in the first innings and took three early wickets, it wasimportant for somebody to hang in there and see the shine off the ball. I was surprised to see Mark Richardson go, because he had been in good form forNew Zealand.If we’d had a good couple of sessions, wecould have set up a good chase in the final hour orso, but things didn’t turn out that way. As you couldprobably have seen, I was gutted to get out. I wasdisappointed to miss out on a century.On the wicket:It was pretty flat, although the footmarks weregetting rather nasty by the time the game ended. It’smy first Test in India, and I don’t know much aboutpitches here. It had both spin and bounce, though, andin my limited experience, I thought it was a good Test wicket.On perceived friction between Anil Kumble and StephenFleming on the field: I didn’t see any, from where I was, but it’s alwayslike a war out there. If, from a spectator’s point ofview, I saw the teams applauding each other’s runs andwickets, I’d think: “What are the wallies doing?”On New Zealand’s strategy for the Mohali Test: Well, we’ll have to see. Right now, we’re just happy to get through this little battle. We lost only fivewickets in the final day to two world-class spinners, so we’re pretty happy about that.On the heat: Ah, I don’t know how you Indians live here! It’s souncomfortable! But as professional athletes who playso much in Asia, it’s important to adjust and be ableto perform regardless of the conditions.