'Ganguly's has given solidity in batting

VISAKHAPATNAM, Feb 17: Skipper Rahul Dravid on Saturday said the successful return of Sourav Ganguly has given the Indian top order much needed "experience and solidity", and hoped the former captain would sustain his good form into the World Cup. "We have got a good opening today. Sourav has come back and the manner in which he played in the whole series was noteworthy," Dravid said after India's series-clinching 7-wickets win against Sri Lanka.
"He has done exceedingly well. He came up with solid runs under his belt and gained confidence ahead of the World Cup. "We hope he will keep up the momentum. His experience and solidity at the top is good for the team and he had led the team in the last World Cup will definitely be an advantage to us." Dravid said Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh being among runs was a welcome news ahead of the next month's quadrennial event in the West Indies. "I am pretty happy about it. It will give them confidence and the way they placed is very heartening and good for them and good for the team," he said. The captain sounded upbeat after the series win and said the team would "hit the ground harder" in the Caribbean. "It is a great series win especially to come back from 0-1 and win the last two matches successively. Winning the series has given lot of confidence to the team in total," he said. "One great thing about our team is that we have so much of depth and flexibility. Whichever the 11 out of 15 players we play in a match, we have to win each game. "For this match Sachin Tendulkar was not there and played an eleven today and the team performed to our strategies." Dravid denied injuries were a concern with the mega event less than a month away. "We did not want to risk them (Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan). Munaf had a stiff back and Pathan this morning bowled couple of overs at the nets and he was bit underdone. "The World Cup is not happening tomorrow and these injuries are not a concern because they are minor in nature." "We will hit the ground harder during the World Cup, which is a different tournament held in different atmosphere and hope these players will be hundred per cent fit by then," he said. The 33-year-old Bangalore batsman said the team should keep its momentum going into the World Cup. "There are many teams in the run as contenders like the West Indies and Sri Lanka besides others. I have faith in my batting and the team's batting and if we keep the momentum going, we should find success in World Cup. "We got to keep bettering our performances. If we win matches like this in the World Cup and perform to our potential and keep consistency in tact it will be better." Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene insisted the series loss would not hamper the team's chances at the World Cup. "The Indian side is a balanced one. Playing at home, they cherished the atmosphere but World Cup is a different aspect and we will sure peak to our abilities there," he said. He admitted that a "lot of things went wrong" for his team on Saturday. "Losing a lot of wickets early on was one of them and we did not capitalize on the situation on a good wicket. "We knew the pitch was very good, and the top order failed miserably. Only pride was Chamara Silva batting well with a couple of other guys chipping in." Right-handed Silva hit a run-a-ball 107 not out to help his side recover from a top order collapse and post a challenging 259 for seven. "We always knew the talent Silva possesses from the way he batted in New Zealand. It is brilliant to see the way he batted and gives us confidence for the World Cup." Jayawardene said his new ball bowlers failed to provide the necessary breakthroughs. "Defending a total like 260 on a pitch like that, it is crucial we get early wickets with the new ball, which we did not do," he said. "We bowled both sides of the wicket and gave too many wide and no balls. We had no momentum from that point on."
On his personal batting form, Jayawadene said, "personally I'm very disappointed with the way I have been batting in the last couple of months. "I have been hitting the ball pretty well in practice, but not spending time out in the middle."
courtesy:timesofindia