MATCH REPORTS
STAT SHEET
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
DEAR REDIFF
ARCHIVES

'A satisfying win,' says Azhar

R Mohanbabu in Colombo

Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin has said the nail-biting six run win over world champions Sri Lanka in the Singer Akai Nidhas Independence Cricket Trophy last night is "very satisfying" and attributed it to team effort.

Talking to newspersons after the thrilling victory in the tall scoring match, he said ''it is a very satisfying win. But had we ended up losing after getting 307 for six it would not have been a great feeling. Everyone stuck to his job except for a few lapses in the field.''

India won the hard-fought battle by bowling out hosts Sri Lanka for 301 with just three balls to spare in the 50th over after posting 307 for six in the stipulated 50 overs.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the captain of the Sri Lankan team, took the defeat in his stride and said, ''It was just another match that we lost.'' He was all praise for his deputy Aravinda de Silva who, despite nursing a groin injury, contributed a valuable 105 runs and put his team on the threshold of a victory.

Azharuddin, when asked whether the victory was unexpected since the Sri Lankans had given spirited chase, said, ''We were expecting to win. Sometimes things go wrong. The game fluctuated like a see-saw. They looked like taking the victory away from us since they had nothing to lose. They were anyway chasing a big target. But fortunately we kept taking the wickets.''

Asked when India sensed that it could win, Azharuddin said after Roshan Mahanama got run out at 295 for eight, he thought he had a chance to clinch the issue. That was a crucial wicket since Mahanama was doing well.

While expressing his displeasure over yesterday's fielding where Indians allowed a lot of runs to go, he said, "The fielding was not up to the mark. But it happens to the best of the teams. Hopefully, everyone realises it and correct themselves.''

Though he spoke of team effort, he was especially effusive in his praise of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for their batting and Anil Kumble and Ajit Agarkar for their bowling.

"The batsmen, especially Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, did an excellent job, Anil Kumble put the brakes on the opposition in the final spell and that was vital," he said.

Sachin (128) scored his 17th one day hundred to equal Desmond Haynes' record and Sourav hit his fourth century. Agarkar, who claimed four for 53, finished the tour with 12 wickets.

Asked whether he considered Agarkar the find of the tour, Azharuddin said, "I don't want to put pressure on him. I hate giving tags to players." The Indian captain in a chat earlier had said that the boys had not played sufficient matches to aid him in picking the find of the tour.

Asked whether he rated the hat trick of wins abroad as very significant, he said it was very satisfying. "I still rate the Hero Cup victory as the best since it was the first win.''

Arjuna Ranatunga, commenting on the result, said nothing went wrong and paid full credit to India by saying that they batted brilliantly and posted a very challenging total.

"The opening stand made all the difference. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly put on 252 runs to eclipse the 225 run mark of Chudasama and K Otino of Kenya against Bangladesh in Nairobi last season. We did pretty well to get close to the target," he said.

He said his team saw a good chance when Aravinda de Silva was batting. Later, teaming up with Roshan Mahanama, who has been dropped from the England tour commencing this week, Aravinda had virtually put the team on the road to victory.

"They had brought down the required run rate to just over five from the initial asking rate of 6.16. Suddenly after the departure of Aravinda de Silva things changed. "We started losing wickets and the match went out of our hands," he said.

Sri Lanka slumped from 272 for four to 301 all out. Three batsmen, including Roshan Mahanama, on whom the victory hopes rested, were run out.

Ranatunga said Aravinda de Silva's eighth one-day international hundred was a superb knock as he batted despite a groin injury.

"I rate it as one of the best and not the best," he said.

While the Indians left for home, Sri Lankans took a flight to England for their upcoming tour.

Meanwhile, the Indian team was fined by match referee Cammie Smith for bowling two overs short within the stipulated time in the match.

As a result, India will lose 10 per cent of its match fee.