December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1428

BANGALORE, Dec 10: India’s top-scorer Saurav Ganguly said on Monday that the Pakistan bowling lost its sting once Shoaib Akhtar was injured on the first day of the final Test here.

Talking to reporters after the third day’s play, Ganguly, who made a magnificent 239 in India’s huge score of 626, said without Shoaib the Pakistan bowlers were struggling.

“You can’t call it the weakest bowling attack in the world. Remember they had us in deep trouble at 61-4 on Saturday. But after Shoaib got injured, they lost sting,” Ganguly stated.

Speaking of his excellent form in the series (443 runs at 88.60), the former Indian captain said he was happy with his the good run with the bat.

“Cricket is a funny game. One day you score, the next you don’t, but you have got to live with both. I’m very happy with the form against Pakistan since I am more focussed and try to score as many runs when I go into bat,” he remarked.

“I’m also happy that I’ve been extremely well since my comeback. It was never good feeling to be away from the scene.”

Ganguly further said he was enjoying his stint with the ball.

“I love bowling, although I’m not good enough to be a third or fourth seamer. But I felt good to be bowling 13 to 15 overs, concede few runs and take a couple of wickets. By doing this, Anil [Kumble] has been allowed to distribute the workload of the bowlers.”

Commenting on the record number of extras given away by India, Ganguly said the pitch here has been a major factor behind this drawback.

“It is not easy for Dinesh [Karthik] to keep wickets on a surface such as this one. The bounce has been uneven and it was more so today where some deliveries failed to reach the keeper on first bounce,” he pointed out.

Looking ahead to the remaining two days of the series, Ganguly said: “The morning session on Tuesday will be crucial for both the teams. The ball tends to move a bit. If we can dislodge both Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal early then we can press home our advantage because it would be hard for the lower order to bat on this pitch.”