'Batting Separated The Two Sides'

India lost the five-Test series because the shotselection by its batsmen left much to be desired. It is true bowling in certainperiods was good. But the difference between the two teams was batting.

I will start with the example of West Indies. We hadsome big stands in a number of telling situations which could have swayed oneway or the other. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, man of the series, was a prime exampleof it. His shot selection was excellent.

On the other hand, on quite a few occasions, when ourbowlers were genuinely tired and getting to falter a little bit, we got a numberof wickets through loose shots.

You just have to look back at the fourth day of thisTest. We had two soft dismissals off two short balls. At that point of time, wewere struggling to take wickets. Then two short balls gave us easy wickets.

We had our problems in shot selection but we have triedto cut it out. I think the Indians to a large extent didn't do it and that'sprobably the reason they lost the series.

Actually, the Trinidad game confirmed to me that wehave a chance against the Indians. It is ironic that even though we lost thatgame, it confirmed to me that we, if we could play well, would beat this Indianside. I thought rather than Indians winning it, we lost the game.

We had a similar situation against South Africa wherewe came back in the morning needing hundred runs and a bit, with nine men in theshade, and just collapsed miserably. Obviously we didn't learn from themistakes. But yet I was encouraged by what I saw of the Indians.

So after the game, rather than stressing on thenegatives, we stressed on the positives. We said we are not playing to the fullof our potential as we can, and we have given them a run for their money. If weraise our game a notch, we would beat these guys.

We had the example of Zimbabwe where we beat them inthe triangular final. I just think if you play well against the Indians, be itone-day or a Test match, if you can go through some good sessions, you have achance to beat them. They don't travel well and they don't play well outsideIndia. In a way, it is the same problem as with us.

I could relate to what Ganguly is feeling. I thinkhighly of him because of the way he came back after Guyana. It was remarkablethe way he recovered and I thought he played well in the remaining innings.

Starting with Trinidad, well in Trinidad he was out toa nothing shot at mid off off me in the first knock, he got stuck in and playedwell. I suppose one thing which could be said against him is when he got in, hedidn't carry on. He must be kicking himself for it. He looked good and was oneof our main concerns.

Sachin Tendulkar is a world class player and if he isgoing to be at the crease at any length of time, he is going to score. Iwouldn't say he had a bad series but he probably didn't have as great a seriesas we think probably he could have had. It was a big loss for India that Sachindidn't fire as well as he can.

Rahul Dravid overall played well at number three. Heheld us up on a number of occasions. I think at Guyana when he made 144 hebatted out of his skin. Even in Antigua, he batted really, really well for his91. I rate him highly for it because we were always picking up early wicketsagainst the Indians. His role was pivotal and he shared the responsibility very,very well.

V.V.S. Laxman, too, was consistent all through. Thebiggest problem for India was the lower half of the batting. Even though AjayRatra made a hundred at Antigua, we realised if you could get the top four orfive, they would quickly fall.

The important thing for them was for someone to make abig hundred and one or two probably to come away with big scores. On the fourthday, even if they were 200 for four, we knew we could come back and get them outfor 225 because of the length of their tail. I am sure this is something,Ganguly and coach John (Wright) would look into.

I had a good relationship with Ganguly in this series.I realise he is a very intense fellow. He was unfortunate to miss Anil Kumblewho I thought would have figured prominently in the last two Tests. Anil, withthe inconsistency in bounce in this and the last Test, could have made adifference. Ganguly would have missed him.

Ganguly, I think, is in the same boat as I am. There ispressure on him from all sides. But he has got to believe in what he is doingand continue to rally his side around him.

I can see he has got the support of each and everyplayer. It is good to see Sachin and Dravid rallying around him. Even in testingtimes, when we were grinding in, he had the support of all of them. Gangulywould have noted it and he has just got to do the job as best as he can.

PTI