December 13, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 2, 1428

BANGALORE, Dec 12: India captain Anil Kumble said on Wednesday it was his pace rather than spin that brought his team on the verge of an unlikely win against Pakistan in the third and final Test here before settling for a draw.

“It is good to finish with a five-wicket haul. I never realised that after 25 years I have to bowl medium-pace to get five wickets in Bangalore. My family and friends were there and it was great,” he said.

Veteran leg-spinner Kumble took 5-60 with clever variations before Pakistan finished at 162-7 in bad light chasing an improbable 374-run target off 48 overs to salvage a draw on the fifth and final day.

India clinch the series 1-0 after winning the opening Test in New Delhi by six wickets and drawing the next two. It was their first Test series victory at home against Pakistan since 1980.

“It (bowling medium-pace) was planned before I went out. I decided it in the morning. There was no spin or bounce in the pitch and the only way to get batsmen out was through balls that kept low,” said Kumble.

“You had to bowl a bit quicker so that the batsmen didn’t have enough time to adjust. Maybe I should have done it in the first innings also.”

Kumble defended his decision to bat an hour after the lunch-break before declaring the second innings closed.

“A 1-0 is fine. It was important to win the series. On this pitch the only option to get wickets was when the ball kept low, which means you needed ten balls to keep low and that could happen in 40 overs or in 150 overs,” he said. “I think whenever I declared was the right decision.”

The Indian captain claimed that his team had a chance to force victory had the weather not intervened.

“I think 48 overs were enough. If the weather had stayed clear, we would have ended up winning the game,” asserted Kumble. “It’s always good to win a Test series be it at home or abroad and to win it against Pakistan is special.”

Kumble praised batsmen Saurav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh for pulling the team out of trouble on the opening day when the hosts were reeling at 61-4.

“We lost two bowlers (Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel) and two batsmen (Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni) just before the game and I think Saurav and Yuvraj played brilliantly to take us to safety,” he said. “Saurav is in the form of his life and I hope he carries it on and continues to score in Australia.”—AFP