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| April 2, 2003 | Wednesday | Muharram 29, 1424 |
Ganguly still rues defeat in World Cup final against Australia
MUMBAI, April 1: India’s cricket captain Saurav Ganguly said on Tuesday he was still trying to recover from his team’s defeat in the World Cup final against Australia.
“Losing the final has taken the glory away from the team’s good performance in the tournament,” Ganguly said at a function here.
“They (Australia) are the best, but it does not mean we should have lost to them.”
India lost only two matches in the entire tournament in South Africa — both of them to Australia — in the preliminary league and the final on March 23.
The cricket-mad country went into mourning after the team’s loss, with Ganguly coming in for severe flak for his decision to field first after winning the toss.
Australia, fired by a brilliant century from captain Ricky Ponting, amassed a World Cup final record total of 359-2 to crush India by 125 runs.
But Ganguly said the Indian team had impressed the entire cricketing world by its performance in the tournament, which included a six-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the first round.
“The way the team played, the whole country is proud. I am sure we can win the World Cup in 2007 in the West Indies,” the Indian captain said.
“It’s a young side with nine players having played the World Cup for the first time. With the experience, we are now better placed to win in 2007.”
The Indian team will take part in the April 11-20 tri-series in Dhaka against South Africa and Bangladesh.
There is no international cricket scheduled for the team after that until the home Test series against New Zealand in October.
The Indian team for the Dhaka tri-series will be selected on Wednesday amid reports that senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath will be rested.—AFP
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