Ganguly blames poor batting for defeat

Kochi, March 13: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday blamed his team's poor batting for the six-wicket defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in the third one-dayer and said there would be tremendous pressure on the side to stage a comeback in the remaining two of the five-match series.

"It is a do or die situation for us. We will have to come back strongly in the remaining matches," Ganguly said.

The skipper held the poor show with the bat responsible for the team's second defeat in the series which reads 2-1 in favour of the visitors. "190 is no score at all. We batted poorly."

Ganguly, however, said it was unrealistic to expect a 275 plus score everytime they came out to bat in a home series. "Everytime you can not look at a 275 plus score". And today it was difficult, he said.

The low total meant the bowlers could hardly defend it. "Harbhajan Singh bowled well. Sarandeep Singh will take time to settle down. Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar could hardly do anything if the score was 190."

Zimbabwe's skipper Stuart Carlisle attributed the comprehensive victory to the team effort and said they just "kept things simple". He praised Douglas Hondo, adjudged man-of-the-match, for bowling a good line and length to claim four for 37.

Alistair Cambell and Grant Flower also came in for praise for their "great partnership" which took away the game from India.