da marjack bet： With a bland day’s of cricket on offer, it was Sourav Ganguly’s maiden double-century on the previous day that the majority were interested in
George Binoy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium10-Dec-2007
A maiden double-century capped a remarkable year for Sourav Ganguly © AFP
The third day’s play of the final Test between India and Pakistan was bland comparedto the excitement on the first two. Therefore, when Sourav Ganguly addressed the media afterPakistan had moved to within 58 runs of avoiding the follow-on, most of thequestions centered around his maiden double-century a day earlier that had enabled him to better his Test-best after a gap of ten years.”I have been trying to get a double hundred,” Ganguly said. “I have been close a fewtimes in the past, but didn’t get it. It is good that I managed to do it in animportant game.”Ganguly began his innings with India in a state of bother at 44 for 2, a situation that quickly worsened to 61for 4. He then provided the steady hand during an overwhelming 300-run stand with Yuvraj Singh and ensured that India drove home the advantage by piling up 626. It was an invaluable contribution considering that India, leading 1-0 inthe series, were in trouble in the first session. Ganguly echoed that view by labelling it one of his more “important innings”.”We were 61 for 4 at one stage and from there we got to 600. So I think from thatpoint of view and in the final Test of the series it was an important innings.”Pakistan batted solidly on the third day, scoring 283 runs for the loss of only fourwickets but Ganguly felt that the morning session on the fourth day could determinewhether or not the Test has a result.”It [the pitch] does a bit early morning and this is the last batting pair. Soif we can get an early breakthrough tomorrow and the way this wicket is behaving, it willnot be easy for the lower-order batsmen. That is why the morning session will becrucial.”The double-century came during the last month of what has been a remarkable year forGanguly. He has scored 932 runs in 16 innings so far in 2007, making it his mostprolific year in Test cricket but he played down claims of it being the “best yearof his career.””I think in the year 2000 I got seven one-day hundreds, so that wasa good year too. My first year in international cricket was asuccessful one. This has been a good year and I hope I can have some more good timein the middle.”Ganguly’s life in the middle has been a fairytale since his comeback against South Africa last year and refused to get drawn into speaking about his forced exile during Greg Chappell’s tenure as India’s coach. According to Ganguly, his return to the team as a player, and not captain, had nothing to dowith his improved form with the bat termed this fairytale a phase he would like to continue for a while.”I don’t think it was a good time, those eight months [out of the team]. It is justthat I have played well [now] and it has kept on getting better. Even when I not wasgetting runs, the efforts have been the same. It is just that I am a bit moresuccessful now.”