'Saurav Did The Right Thing'

Joining the debate on whether India should have batted or fielded first in the World Cupfinal, legendary all-rounder Ian Botham said captain Saurav Ganguly had done the "right thing" by opting to field but his bowlers failed to deliver.

"Ganguly did the right thing by fielding after winning the toss. The conditions were helpful for the bowlers, but they simply did not click. It is not fair to blame the captain," Botham told reporters in the Capital.

"I feel sorry for Ganguly. He did all the right things but his boys could not do it in the final. The Indians playedvery well in the World Cup," Botham said.

Botham, here in connection with the Hero Indian Sports Academy awards, said the Indians would have found itdifficult to conquer the Australians "who have maintained very high standards".

"No one's as good as the Aussies. They have been playing very well and it is not easy to beat them," Botham, consideredone of the greatest all-rounders, said.

Botham, who scored 5200 runs and claimed 383 wickets in 102 Tests, was critical of the World Cup format, saying it wasmuch too long to sustain the interest of fans.

"I think it was two weeks too long. Too many things were already decided at the Super Six stage, which is quite a shamereally. These things need to be looked into," he said.

He also criticised the International Cricket Council for not having taken the Zimbabwe boycott issue into account muchbefore the event which resulted in the premature exit of some of the strong teams.

Botham said the Robert Mugabe regime had not changed for the last three years and the administrators should have takenall these factors into consideration.

"To boycott matches was a political decision, but it did affect the players. All these things should have been sortedout a few months if not years before the event. Is that a true World Cup?" he asked.

Asked to comment on England's failure to make it to the Super Six stage of the World Cup, the former captain said theselectors were now looking ahead and that was the only way to rebuild the team.

"Nasser (Hussain) has stepped down and the only way to move forward is to have a new captain with new ideas. Nasserhad done a wonderful job, but I think it is important to have a new captain. We have to prepare for the 2007 World Cup," hesaid.

On reports that Michael Vaughan was tipped to be named the new England captain, Botham said "He is currently one ofthe best batsmen in the world. I am sure he will be able to do the job".

Botham, who played most of his cricket at a time when three other great all-rounders -- Kapil Dev, Imran Khan andRichard Hadlee -- were also on the scene, said that most of the teams lacked quality all-rounders at the moment.

"That was a great period when we had so many quality all-rounders. I don't think it will be easy to find players ofthat quality. It so happened that they came together."

Botham rated Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman in contemporary cricket but felt Vaughan's current formcould prompt many to consider him as the best "in-form" batsman now.

On how he was coping with life after retirement, Botham jokingly said "no more body aches. I have been having agood time, playing golf and fishing. I have also been doing commentary for SkySports."

PTI