Media slams Ganguly, praises Tendulkar

The media turned on cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday after his side went down by 10 wickets to Australia in the first Test in Bombay.

"Prince becomes a pauper" ran the headline in The Asian Age newspaper, referring to Ganguly's nickname "Prince of Calcutta".

Australia won with more than two days to spare on Thursday, taking a big step towards winning their first Indian Test series in 31 years.

Most leading dailies attacked Ganguly's captaincy and batting and said India lacked focus compared with the Australians.

"After three easy Tests as captain, Sourav Ganguly...is now confounded with reality -- that captaincy is not quite his cup of tea because he is wanting tactically," said cricket writer Rajan Bala in a front page article in The Asian Age.

He said the Australian pace bowlers did not need to exploit Ganguly's weakness against short-pitched bowling aimed at his rib-cage since he had fallen cheaply to the spinners.

"Australian juggernaut crushes India" said the Hindustan Times, while The Times of India added "Indian capitulation gives amazing Aussies the 'sweet sixteen' ", referring to Australia's 16th Test win in a row.

Former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar, in contrast, was praised for his half-centuries in both innings.

Former Indian bowler Bishan Singh Bedi, referring Tendulkar's second-innings dismissal to a brilliant Ricky Ponting catch after a pull shot bounced off short leg fielder Justin Langer, said: "Surely, Indian batting cannot revolve around Tendulkar all the time."

The Asian Age also had a graphic headlined "duckometer", with details on Bombay all-rounder Ajit Agarkar's seven consecutive ducks against Australia. It nicknamed him the "Bombay duck", in reference to a popular variety of fish.

More on the first Test
Australia will win series 2-0: Greg Matthews
Images from day 3
Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist on being adjudged the man of the match in Real Audio

Mail Cricket Editor