Ganguly lauds England comeback in one-day series

Mumbai, February 4: India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly had some gracious praise for England for staging a remarkable fightback to end their six-match series of one-day internationals all square at three apiece.

Nasser Hussain's Englishmen trailed 3-1 before levelling the series 3-3 with victories in the last two close matches.

The tourists won both the final games in the final over, beating India by two runs in the fifth one-dayer at Delhi on Thursday and five runs in the last day-night match at Bombay on Sunday.

"England showed a lot of character and fought very well to come back into the series and level it," said Ganguly.

India, chasing 256, required 11 in the last over to win the sixth game and the series, but could manage only five off England seamer Andrew Flintoff before being dismissed for 250.

Ganguly said inexperience of the middle-order batsmen was one of the reasons for his team's two close defeats.

"Inexperience of batsmen such as Kaif, Badani, Mongia and Sehwag showed at crucial moments," he said. "We still have to learn handling the pressure. We need players who can perform well under pressure."

India were strongly placed at 191-3 in the 37th over before collapsing under pressure, losing their last seven wickets for just 59 runs.

Ganguly's team was severely criticised by the Indian media for yet again choking under pressure, having already lost nine final deciders in one-day tournaments since April 1999.

"Final act, choking scene: India's storyline remains unchanged," screamed an Indian Express headline on the sports page.

"If ever there is an advertisement for self-destruction, the Indian cricket team would be an ideal role model," the paper said.

"For the fourth time in this limited-overs series, the middle-order caved in to the pressure tactics of field marshal Nasser Hussain, resulting in a shot-in-the-arm series leveller for the visitors."

"Sourav Ganguly's best effort in a crunch match was not enough to win the sixth and final one-day international," said the Hindu.

The Indian skipper raised visions of a win with a well-paced 80, his highest score in six matches against England, only to see his team squander the advantage.

"He (Ganguly) made his bat talk, but it was England captain Nasser Hussain who had the last laugh," the paper said.

"Indian run-chase falls flat once again," said the Hindustan Times.