A disappointed Sourav Ganguly blamed his batsman for their secondconsecutive loss in the Coca Cola Cup at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Rex Clementine22-Jul-2001A disappointed Sourav Ganguly blamed his batsman for their secondconsecutive loss in the Coca Cola Cup at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.India restricted Sri Lanka to 221, but at the end fell short by sixruns; “We should have won this game. If we can’t chase a score likethat with 4 wickets in hand, I think we are asking for trouble”remarked the Indian captain.”I really fancied our chances when we bowled them out for 221. This isa game we should have won. This was a good cricketing wicket” said theIndian captain who was not entirely happy with the wicket when hisside lost to New Zealand earlier in the tournament.Things were going well for Sri Lanka with the openers batting well inthe first 10 overs, but the introduction of Harbhajan Singh paiddividends for the Indians as he claimed the wicket of the Sri Lankancaptain Sanath Jayasuriya in his very first over. “He’s a greatbowler. We knew Sri Lanka’s batting depended mostly on SanathJayasuriya, when Harbhajan got rid of him we knew a big worry wasover.””I thought Suresh Perera batted really well. He’s not the worst number10 around. He batted well. But even then, we should have won thegame.”Skipper Ganguly dropped himself down the order instead of opening theinnings and scored a fine 69. “I knew it was going to be difficultwhen the spinners come on. I thought it was best to take the attack tothem””Talking about my own form, I have been batting well. That can happenin a long career, it happened against Australia, people can say lot ofthings but you’ve got to concentrate on your game.”Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya meanwhile declared this game as,”one of the best that I have played in” but he warned his batsmen,”It’s a matter for concern. I think the middle order have to bat withmore responsibility. 220 on such a wicket is not a good score.”The game was a close affair and Jayasuriya bowled spin from both endsin the death overs, “It was not easy to score off the spinners duringthat time. The batsmen had to take lot of risks. That’s why Ipersisted with the spinners”The captain also praised Suresh Perera who won the man of the matchaward for his burst at the death with the bat and the two earlywickets he got; “He’s been excellent. We are looking for an allrounder. I was happy with his performance, he gave his hundred percentand that’s what we need.”Perera who has just returned to international cricket after back andgroin injury was delighted about his performance, “I am delighted. Ifeel great. This is the first time I have won the man of the matchaward.”When Perera went to bat Sri Lanka were in real trouble with 7 down for154 and more than 10 overs to go, “The senior partner out there wasKumar Dharmasena. He told me not to hit any rash shots. We decided torotate the strike by pushing for ones and twos. It worked very welland we put up a useful 49 run partnership.”Perera also bowled impressively as he sent the Indian openers back tothe pavilion before they got going, “We knew we needed early wickets.Because this is a huge ground and they can pick up a lot of runs insingles and twos. I like to attack the batsmen, I attacked and thewickets came.”